Harry Potter: What if James and Lily Potter Lived?
by Tallis Mikaelson-Winchester
Summary: What if James and Lily lived instead of dying at the hands of Voldemort!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter series!

Chapter 1

Stephani, 11 in a week, raced down the stairs with Harry slounching behind me to the kitchen where Lily and Uncle Padfoot were. It was the full moon last night, so, Uncle Remus was exhausted, and Aunt Nadiné had a nightshift at St. Mungo's, so, she was as well.

"Ah, look who it, Prongslets and Prongsette." Pads comments.

"Morning." I reply as Harry grunts. "He didn't get a good night's sleep, he slept on the ceiling most of the time." I sit down next to Pads and opposite Harry.

"Stephani Lily Potter, did you charm your brother to sleep on the ceiling?" Mum asked with a hint of a warning in her tone. When mum is angry, well, she is angry.

"Mum!" I start. "I am appalled that you would think that I would do that to my brother! My twin no less!" She raises an eyebrow. "Honestly, I didn't. Although, thanks for the pranking idea. Might use it at some point." Mum groans and goes back to frying the bacon.

"Just like James, when he was younger." I hear mum groan under her breath and I smirk.

"Thanks for the compliment mum."

"Should I be offended?" Dad quips as he walks into the room, carrying Aaron, and I stick my tongue out at him.

"Only joking kiddo." He ruffles my hair and sits down opposite Pads but not before kissing mum on the cheek. Regulus (Not Sirius' brother) and Willow walks in and sits down next to me while Willow sits down on the other side of Dad.

"Melissa's set about the impossible task of waking up Tristan and Darren." Reg states. "Dad, you might want to help her."

"Nah." Pads replies. "I think I will leave Mel to it. Anyway, Prongsy is Prong's not mine. You see, you know it is Prong's kid when they have Prongs in their name. Willow is Prongsiton Harry is Prongslet, Steph is Prongsette, Darren is Prongsly, Mel is Prongsy and Aaron is Baby Prongs." Aaron groans at his name and I chuckle.

"I can't believe you even went to the trouble of having individual nicknames for us. You can't even shortened them or they will all be Prongs!" Willow comments.

"Well, I try." Pad grins as Tris and Dar walk in with Mel who has a bruised cheek?!

"Beofre you ask, it was my fault." Mel says as she sits down. "I kinda scared Tris to wake him up and his natural instinct was to fight, and I kinda got hit in the face but he has apologised! So, no punishments or anything 'cause he didn't mean too!" Tris just looks guilty as he sits down next to Pads as Dar sits next to Har.

"Of course not." Pads gets out his wand and points it at Mel. "You kids will need to learn this soon enough. _Episkey_." Mel's face instantly heals. "Episkey can be used to treat mild or moderate injuries. Like a bruise, cut or a small broken bone like your nose or toe."

"I'm proud of you, Padfoot, you grew up." Dad wipes away fake tears and Pads snorts.

"You clearly didn't." Dad and Pads start to bicker when an owl screechs and fliers onto our window still. Marmaduke! Will collects the mail and opens it.

"Hogwarts letters!" Will exclaims. "Steph's and Har's too." Har and I grin at eachother as Will passes us our letters. I open mine immediately.

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL** _ **of**_ **WITCHCRAFT** _ **and**_ **WIZARDRY**

 _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorceror, Chief Warlock,_

 _Supereme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)_

Dear Miss. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31st July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

I turn to the second page.

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL** _ **of**_ **WITCHCRAFT** _ **and**_ **WIZARDRY**

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

 _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

 _by Miranda Goshawk_

 _A History of Magic_

 _by Bathilda Bagshot_

 _Magical Theory_

 _by Adalbert Waffling_

 _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

 _by Emeric Switch_

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

 _by Phyllida Spore_

 _Magical Drafts and Potions_

 _by Arsenius Jigger_

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

 _by Newt Scamander_

 _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

 _by Quentin Trimble_

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 Wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

"WOO! ACCEPTED! HELL YEAH!" I exclaim and I high-five Har.

"And there are people on this table who have to wait at least another year!" Zoé argues back while walking into the room and sitting next to Tristan. "Are you positive that Dar and I can't go this year?"

"Sorry, sweetheart. You have another year with me waking you up during the nights for prank. The worse thing in the world." That made Zo cheer up considerably.

"Now that I think about it, I don't want to go!" Zo exclaims and that made Pads smirk. "Shut up, Dad."

"I didn't say anything." Pad comments.

"Your face says everything." Zo replies.

"So-" Willow interrupts the brewing argument between Pads and Zo. "When do we go to Diagon Alley for everything?"

"Sometime in August when Nadi and I aren't looking after 11 of our children." The looks on Dad's and Pad's faces were brilliant.

"Apparently, our dad's are children now and I have to say, I agree completely with mum." I say as Mum stills down after laying all the food out on the table. Mum's an early riser due to her job as a Healer and insists on making breakfast for everyone, even if we want to help. Mum kinda reminds me of Molly, Ron's mum. Although, I've only met her twice and Ron once. We begin piling our plates with food. I go for two sausages, three pieces of bacon, an egg and two slices of toast before pouring myself some orange juice. I start stuffing my face because Iwas starving, much to Mum's and Will's disgust.

"That's gross."Willow groans.

"Evhriun ist dohin irt-" I swallow my food. "Apart from you and mum." I wave my hands in the direction of Dad, Pads, Har, Dar, Mel, Aaron, Zo, Reg and Tris. "Anyway, I'm hungry and I have places to be and people to see. Like Hermione, I'm meant to be going round her house today." Hermione was my muggle best friend from school who knew I was going to a private school after the end of this year, so, we planned to make our time together count. Although, I am suspicious of her of being a muggleborn witch, slightly. Purely because she has done some, what would be considered strange in the muggle world but not in the wizard world, things. Like making it rain specifically above a student who was bullying her and making a ball go into her hand when she wasn't touching it.

"Hey, what do you think food would say if it could talk?" Aaron asked.

"Probably, eat me." Dad answered before going to take a bite of his bacon and stopping at a shrill scream.

"What do you think you are doing?! Trying to eat me big guy?!" Everyone starts laughing. "What's so funny, people?! Am I amusing you because I AM A PIECE OF BACON?! HUH?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY RIGHTS AS A PIECE OF BACON?!"

"Bacon piece's don't have rights." Reg deadpans before stealing the piece of bacon from dad's fork and eating it, and wincing at the screams before they died down. Everyone stared at him. "What? Bacon is bacon."

"You killed it!" Aaron exclaimed.

"Well, technically, you can't kill something that is already dead." Dar points out. Ever the ravenclaw. Well, possible ravenclaw. We don't know yet. Maybe Gryffindor.

"But it was talking!" Aaron protests.

"'Cause of accidental magic from someone!" Dar argues back.

"Someone used accidental magic?" Aaron asks.

"Honey, you used accidental magic. It happens all the time to wizards and witches who can't control their magic because they are too young. Your control of your magic develops with age." Mum explains.

"So, I won't go to jail?" Aaron asks and mum shakes her head, and Aaron beams before continuing eating. Family drama over. I quickly finish eating and rinse my plate, before putting it in the dish washer. Thank merlin for muggle technology.

"I'm going to change." I kiss mum on the cheek as I pass. "Thanks for breakfast." I jog up the stairs and into my room which was opposite Harry's, and beside Darren's with Mel's on the other side. I used to share a room with Harry but I changed to a different room when I was about 9 because according to mum, we are growing up and things will start to happen to our bodies. Apart from my chest area starting to grow a little bit, that is pretty much but I can understand where mum is coming from. I quickly brush my teeth and change into a plain white vest, a three-quarter length sleeved red flannel shirt, slightly flared light blue jeans and put on my plain black converse. I put my unruly raven coloured hair into a ponytail and look at myself in the mirror. Not bad for a 10 year old. Dammit,I sound vain again. Definitely a trait from dad. I smirk at myself once more before grabbing my backbag and walk downstairs. The table was only occupied by Mel and Reg. "Guys, I'm going now. So, see you later and remember to prank my twin, okay?" I wink in their direction and they snicker. I grab my keys from the bowl. "BYE!" I yell out and go outside. You're probably thinking, why the hell is this 10 year old walking to her friend's house without a parent? A, I've being doing this for a while. B, I have been to Hermione's plenty of times and it is only the next street over.

I reach Hermione's house and knock on her front door. Mr. Granger opens the door. "Hello, Stephani. Come in. Do you mind waiting in kitchen for Hermione? One of her professors from the private school has come to talk to her and they are in the living room." Damn, Hermione isn't a witch.

"Sure." I reply. I walk pass the living room but not before taking a sneaky peek. I was not so surprised to find a familiar face. I knew it. "Professor Mcgonagall?!" She looks to be in surprise.

"Stephani Potter, I didn't think I would find you here. I assume, you are friends with Miss. Granger and have suspected her of being a witch for a while?"

"Of course. I have been suspicious since the age of 5 when a magic accident happened in the classroom which wasn't my fault."

"You know?! You knew about magic the entire time?! I thought we were best friends?" I could see tears welling.

"I couldn't tell you, 'Mione. It is against the law in the wizarding world." She looks up in surprise. "Clause 73 under the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy states, 'Each wizarding governing body will be responsible for the concealment, care and control of all magical beasts, beings, and spirits dwelling within its territory's borders. Should any such creature cause harm to, or draw the notice of, the Muggle community, that nation's wizarding governing body will be subject to discipline by the International Confederation of Wizards'. They implemented the law in place because of the witch trials in the muggle world actually persecuted a lot of witches and wizards from the wizarding world. I would of told you otherwise." The Grangers looked shocked while Professor Mcgonagall meely looked surprised.

"You remember the entire clause?" McGonagall asked and I nod. "I think that you will be a great assest to Hogwarts and so will Miss. Granger. I have seen her grades and I must say, I am impressed." Hermione and I grin at her. "Miss. Granger, here is a list of everything you will need to buy for Hogwarts. Now, Miss. Potter, I can presume that you will be able to help Miss. Granger get to Diagon Alley? I am terribly behind schedule."

"Sure, I can, Professor!" I give her a beaming smile.

"Good. Now, I must go and see a Mr. Justin Finch-Fletchley and a Miss. Aleksandra Dragomirova. Goodbye." She apparates away and everyone jaws drop in shock.

"It is called apparation, we learn how to apparate when we are 17." I explain. "Anyway, when my family and I go to Diagon Alley, you can come with us and we'll show you the ropes." Hermione looked at her parents.

"Of course, we can do that. It would be nice to see Lily, James, Sirius and Nadiné again." Mrs. Granger. "Now, what would you two like to do?"

"Monopoly?" Hermione asks and I frown.

"What's monopoly? Is it a muggle game?" I question Hermione and she nods.

"It is a game that can go on for hours, so, prepare yourself."

And so it did. In the end, Hermione won. It was sunset by the time we were done. "I should go now. Dinner will be ready by the time I get home. See you next week for my birthday, right?" Hermione nods.

"Of course." Hermione and I hug.

"Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Thank you for having me."

"No problem, Stephani. Take care." Mrs. Granger replies and gives me a short hug before I walk out the door. I quickly head home and walk into the house where I get a whiff of dinner which smelt heavenly.

"Hello?!" I yell out.

"In here." I hear mum reply from the kitchen but I decide to tease her.

"Where is here?!" I yell out and I heard chuckles from the kitchen.

"Just get in here!" Mum exclaims. "Dinner is nearly ready!" I smirk and take my shoes off, and dump my bag on the floor. I walk into the kitchen and kiss mum on the cheek, who softened her look instantly. "Can you lay the table for me, Steph?"

"Sure, mum." I start to set the table which occupied Har, Zo, Will, Mooney, Nadi, Pads and dad who had just returned from work while Nadi was going to work after dinner. Also, Pads, Nadi, Zo, Reg, Tris and Mooney were going back to their homes tomorrow because the full moon was over. "By the way, Har…" He looks at me. "You owe me 10 galleons!" Harry groans.

"From which bet?" Harry questions and I smile cheekily.

"Well, I have something to announce actually." I get on the kitchen table, much to mum's dismay. "After years and years of me assisting of it but not knowing if it was true, I can finally say, Hermione…is a witch! She is going to Hogwarts at the beginning of september this year."

"Stephani Lily Potter! I swear to merlin if you don't get off that table this instant-" Knowing what my mum would do, I immediately get off the table and smile cheekily in mum's direction. Mum rolls her eyes and begins to plate up the food. "Steph, can you call everyone down?" I shrug and go to the bottom of the staircase.

"JERKFACES! GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE! FOOD!" I walk back to the kitchen, give my mum another cheeky smile, and hear the stampde of foots down the stairs. I grab a plate of food and sit down next to dad. Everyone grabs themselves a plate and join us on the table. As mum was walking pass me, she cuffs my head gently and sits down opposite me. Dammit, definitely in trouble.

"Stephani-" I wince as she uses my name. "Don't use that language in front of your younger siblings and cousins." Huh? I was expecting worse. "You can also wash up without the help of the dish washer." Could be worse. "Weed the garden of gnomes tomorrow." Still could be worse. "Do the laundry." Not to bad. "And you are banned until the 30th from playing Quidditch. I choke and groan mentally. If I groan outloud, it will be even worse.

"Okay, mum." Mum nods; sastified. This is going to be a long couple of days. You know what's even worse? I can't play qudditch to pass the time.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter Series!

Chapter 2

A couple of weeks have passed and it was soon time to go to Diagon Alley. I was putting my sapphire blue cloak on with silver ties while mum answered the door. I heard mum engaging in conversation while 'Mione poked her head into the doorway. "Hello, 'Mione." I greet as do my siblings and dad as she walks in.

"Hello." She grins and looks at my cloak. "Cool cloak."

"Thanks. I actually got it in Diagon Alley. We have to get kinda one similar to this but in black for Hogwarts." Hermione nods, taking it all in.

"How do we get there? To Diagon Alley?"

"We go by floo." Harry answers and Hermione looked even more confused. "We'll show you." We gesture for her to stand near the fireplace as mum comes in with Mr and Mrs. Granger.

"Steph?" Mum asked. "Would you like to demostrate?" I nod and step into the fireplace.

"You step into the fireplace, grab a handful of floo powder-" I grab a handful of floo powder. "Say the place where you want to go and throw the powder to the ground in the fireplace." Hermione nods and I smirk. "Also, stand back." Hermione takes a few steps back and I grin. "Diagon Alley!" I throw the powder to the ground and immediately feel myself being transported. I luckily land on my feet and move out the way of the fireplace. However, it was also very crowded and hard to move, so, I fell completely onto the ground as Harry came through with a not so perfect landing.

"Sorry." He groans and helps me up. 'Mione and her parents were next to come through. Being followed by Aaron, Mel, Darren, Will, Mum then Dad. I could see the awe on Hermione's face and I grin. Glad to know my friend is happy.

"First stop, Gringotts. We need to go down to our vault and also exchange muggle money for wizard money." Dad states.

After doing just that, buying our robes and books, we made a stop in Magical Menagerie. Dad and mum said that now we were going to Hogwarts, we could have a pet of our own. Last year, Will got a Tawny Owl called 'Thorn'. Harry was admiring a snowy owl while I had my eye set on a beautiful black kitten with one eye that was blue and one eye that was golden which made me like the kitten even more. She also had a slight puff at the end of her tail, kind of like a Kneazle or a lion. "Miss? Are you interested in this feline?" I didn't like the way he spat feline out but I nodded anyway. "I have to pre-warn you, this feline is ¼ Kneazle. Her mother was half-kneazle and her father was a pure black cat. Do you still want her?" I nod, furiously and dad comes over.

"Found a pet?" He asks.

"Yeah." I point to the ¼ Kneazle feline. "That one."

"Sure?" I nod and give him a puppy eyed look. "Those eyes…Like your mother's." I grin. "Can I please have the snowy owl over there and this cat, please?"

"Of course." The shopkeeper replies and puts our respective pets in a cage. "That would be 19 Galleons, please." Dad hands over the money before we collect our pets and walk out the store. One more place to go. Ollivander's.

"What are you going to name your owl then Harry?" I question as we walk to Ollivander's.

"Hedwig, I think. Hedwig is a good name." Hedwig, I like it. "What are you going to name your cat?"

"You see, I was going between two names before I came here. Lucifer or Athena. However, one name is another name for the devil, so, I think I am going to have to stick with Athena."

"I like Athena. Athena like the Greek Goddess, right?"

"Yeah. Harry, I'm surprised. I didn't realise you were paying attention when I talked about mythology. Thanks for being the best twin brother ever." I give him a side hug.

"I'm your **only** twin brother."

"Exactly." I smirk. "Except that Mel and Aaron are twins, so, Aaron is also my twin brother." He rolls his eyes at my childish antics but laughs anyway.

We all walk into Ollivander's and we didn't see Mr. Ollivander anywhere. "Hello?" I call. "Mr. Ollivander?" A man suddenly appears on a ladder, making all of us jump apart from Dad. Damn auror training.

"I wondered when I'd be seeing you three. It seems only yesterday that your mother and father over there were buying their first wand. Who would like to go first?"

"'Mione? What about you?" I look at Harry who nods in approval and Hermione steps us.

"Let's see, Miss. Granger….Ah. Try this one." He hands the wand to Hermione who instantly glowed and shot some red sparks out. "Excellent. 10 and ¾ long, made of vine wood with a dragon heartstring core. That is 9 galleons please, Miss Granger." Mr. Granger hands over some money. "Next of you two?" Harry pushes me slightly forward.

"You go." I nod and Mr. Ollivander already had a wand ready for me to try.

"Go ahead, Miss. Potter." I hold the wand and wave it, causing the light fixtures to blow. "No, no." He rummages again. Over and over, I tried wands but couldn't get the right one. "Miss. Potter? I would like you to try a very old wand of mine."

"Okay."

"This wand dates back to the 13 century." My mouth drops open. "It is 11" long, made of holly and possesses a thestral tail hair core." I grasp the wand and I immediately glow, and my wand shoots out red sparks. Woo! "Very interesting you are the particular owner of that wand. The thestral who's tail hair it is, only let the maker use two. One is in your current possession, and the other one-" He had this twinkle in his eye. "Was used in the Elder Wand." I drop my wand in shock which made Mr. Ollivander flies back. Shoot!

"Sorry, Mr. Ollivander!" I exclaim as he gets up.

"No harm done dear." He walks back to the counter. "Just remember that thestral tail hair can be very tempermental and not so easily seen." What the hell did, not so easily seen mean? "That would be 9 galleons, Miss. Potter." Dad hands over the money and I step back a few places, so, Harry could then go up. Mr. Ollivander picks a wand. "Ah. Here we are." Harry just stands there like a tree. "Well, give it a wave."

"Oh!" Harry exclaims and waves his wand. Some shelves come crashing down and Harry places the wand back on the counter.

"Apparently not." He gives Harry another wand. "Perhaps this." Harry waves at a vase which blows apart. "No, no, definitely not! No matter-" He puts the wand back. "I wonder." He hands Harry a wand that I had used earlier but just made his other vase explode. Harry glows and his wand shoots red sparks. "Curious, very curious."

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry asks.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather reside in your wand gave one feather, just one. Like your sister's wand. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you and your sister your scars." He points to Harry's forehead and I look at my collar bone which is where my scar is.

"Are you saying V-" Harry starts but is interrupted.

"Oh, we do not speak his name. The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you and Miss. Potter over there." I examine my wand before looking up. "After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things…terrible, yes, but great." He hands Harry his wand. "11", made of holly and possesses a phoenix feather core. That is 9 galleons, ." Dad hands over 9 galleons before we leave Mr. Ollivander's. Harry and I were left confused by Mr. Ollivander.

"Don't worry, kids." Dad states. "Mr. Ollivander is eccentric to say the least." I just hope you're right, Dad.

A couple of more weeks go pass and it is already the 1st of September, and we are making our way to platform 9 ¾ . Will goes first and passes through the wall. I was up next and Dad was helping me push the trolley through while Mum was helping Harry. Pads and Nadine were also here with our cousins to see us off. "You ready?" Dad asks and I nod. "We go together. Alright. 1, 2, 3!" We start pusing the trolley and go through the wall, and come out on the other side at platform 9 ¾ .

"Wow." I murmur and everyone else piles through afterwards. Will, Harry and I give the conductor our luggage and pets. "Bye, Athena. Don't 'cause too much trouble." Athena meows before she is put into the pet department. Us three start hugging Zo, Reg, Tris, Pads and Nadi goodbye before moving on to my siblings who were practically in tears. Just like last year when we saw Will off. "I promise I will write at least once a week." I was saying to all of them.

"No, three times a day!" Mel protested.

"Make it three times a week and we have a deal." I compromise and she nods before crying again. "Hey, you'll be okay. You still have Dar, Aaron, Zo, Reg, Tris, Mum, Dad, Pads and Nadi. Now, come on. Detach yourself from me and hug Harry. I still need to say 'goodbye' to mum and dad. I hug mum first.

"Oh, sweetie. We are going to miss you so much. I love you." I heard her say.

"I send you an owl every single week." I reply. "I love you too." I move onto dad and I throw my arms around him. What can I say, I am a complete daddy's girl. "I love you, Daddy. I promise I will do pranks every week if I can." He chuckles.

"I love you too, sweetheart. Just try not to get caught." I snort before letting go. I wait for Harry and Will as they say goodbye. You know despite the fact that Will is our cousin, she is like a sister to all of us. Will even calls mum and dad, 'mum' and 'dad' because they raised her even though they could of sent her to care or an orphanage. Will's full name is Willow Camellia Evans-Potter. Mum had a older brother by about 4 years who didn't mind mum's magic. Hell, he even married a witch who was pureblood! Not that it matters of course but you get what I mean. Our uncle and aunt died in a car crash in November 1979. Our uncle in his will stated that Will would go to us and not Petunia because she was magical, and we all know that Petunia hates magic and just wants a normal muggle life. I mentally roll my eyes at this before Harry and Will come over and we get onto the train. We still had a minute before it left.

"Okay, so, here is a compartment." Will shows us an empty compartment. "I will sit in here with you for a while before going to my friend's okay? My friends are only in the compartment two doors down, so, if you need anything, just come to the compartment, okay?" We all sit down in the compartment which happened to have a view of our family. The train starts to move and we wave at our family who waved back with proud smirks and smiles.

A couple of hours in, Will had gone back to her friends and Ron came in. "Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full."

"No, not at all." Harry and I answer in unison.

"How are you then Ron?" I ask.

"I'm good, thanks. Just nervous for the sorting. All of my family is in Gryffindor, so, I really want to be in Gryffindor but I don't know if I have all the traits of a Gryffindor. What about you two?"

"I'm sure you will be in Gryffindor. I either want to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, our mum, was almost put in Ravenclaw but then the hat decided on Gryffindor and Dad was a Gryffindor as was uncle Pads and Uncle Mooney but Aunt Nadi was in Ravenclaw." I explain. "Harry?"

"I just want to be anyway apart from Slytherin." Harry supplies simply.

"But Andromeda was in Slytherin and she is kind. That is Pad's aunt by the way."

"True. Andromeda is an exception though. Do you personally know anyone else who isn't bad who was in Slytherin?" Damn, you have me there.

"Touche." I comment. "Let's just hope we are in the same houses and we can stick together." The trolley comes by our compartment.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" The trolley woman asked. Ron holds up his sandwiches.

"No, thanks, I'm all set."

"Can I have a bertie bott's Every Flavour Beans, a chocolate frog and 2 Pumpkin Pasties, please?" I ask. She gives me the stuff and I give her the money. I give a Pumpkin Pasty to Ron. "Here. Don't have to pay me back or anything."

"Thanks." He grins and bites down into it. I smile at Harry.

"Harry?"

"We'll take a bit of everything!" Harry exclaims and pulls out some galleons.

"Whoa!" Seriously, Harry?

A couple of minutes later after we had gotten all the food and paid for it. Harry got a dumbledore card and Ron was about to turn his rat yellow when Hermione came in. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy name Neville's lost one." She then looks at me and grins. "Stephani! I didn't see you there. You doing alright?"

"Of course. Did you get to the platform alright?" Hermione nods. "Ron's about to do some magic, wanna see?"

"Yeah." We turn to Ron.

"Aghheemmmm." He clears his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" Nothing happens apart from a zap.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asks. "Well, it's not very good, is it? Of course, I've only tried a few simple spells myself, and they've all worked for me. For example…" She faces Harry. "There is a crack in your glasses. Occulus Reparo!" The glasses fix…I didn't even realise! I feel bad now! "That's better, isn't it?" She turns back to Ron. "I'm Hermione Granger and you are…?"

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron replies with his mouth full. She screws her face in disgust.

"Pleasure. You three better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." Hermione gets up and goes to leave when she looks back. "You've got dirt, on your nose, by the way, did you know? Just there." She points to a spot on her nose and Ron rubs the dirt off in embarassment before she leaves.

"I'm going to get changed into my robes." I go into the toilet and quickly change, and walk back to the compartment to Ron and Harry who somehow got changed faster than me. The train halts to a stop. Oh my Merlin! We're here! We're here!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter series!

Chapter 3

"Right, then! First years! This way, please! Come on, now, don't be shy! Come on now, hurry up!" Hagrid calls out and we walk over. "Hello, Harry, Stephani."

"Hey, Hagrid." We reply.

"Whoaa!" Ron exclaims in wonder.

"Right then. This way to the boats! Come on, now, follow me."

We eventually make our way across the lake and make our way to the stairs, where Professor McGonagall is waiting. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup."

"Trevor!" Neville exclaims and picks up Trevor, much to McGonagall's bemusement. "Sorry."

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily." McGonagall leaves.

"So-" A boy speaks up with slick back blond hair and a nasty smirk on his face. "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry and Stephani Potter have come to Hogwarts." I hear whispers around me. "This is Crabbe, and Goyle." He nods in the direction of these two boys. "And I'm Malfoy…Draco Malfoy." I hear Ron snicker. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley. Well soon find that some qizarding families are better than others, Potter's. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He extends a hand towards us.

"Bugger off, Malfoy." I states. "Not interested."

"And I think we can tell who the wrong sort are for ourselves, thanks." Draco glares at us before McGonagall returns and smacks him on the shoulder, making his retreat.

"We're ready for you now." She leads us to the Great Hall and I walk next to Hermione. There were floating candles in a night sky above us with students lining the halls, sat at tables in their houses.

"It's not real, the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Hermione whispers to me and I nod. I already knew this but I didn't want to burst her bubble.

"All right, will you wait along here, please?" We all stop where she says and she puts a few feet in front of us, and puts a hat on the stool. The sorting hat! The sorting hat opens it's mouth wide before starting to sing.

 _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

The hall bursts into applause as the hat finishes the tune. The hat bows to each table before going quite still. Is it okay? Dumbledore rises from the table. "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank You." Bloody hell. What is on that floor.

McGonagall interrupts my curiousity. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah." A girl with blonde pigtails walks to the hat and it is placed on her head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat calls out and Hannah goes to her house.

"Bones, Susan!" A girl with bright ginger hair in a plait down her back, walks up.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Susan merrily runs to her house.

"Boots, Terry!" A boy with dark hair walks up and the hat is placed on him.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat yells out and Terry runs to his table.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy!" The hat barely touched her head when it yelled out.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavendar!" A girl with ash blonde hair walks up, she already looked like she had been through puberty, and was a teenager. The hat took about two minutes to decide.

"GRYFFINDOR!" I groan internally as she got a few whistles from students. If I'm in Gryffindor, I can tell that we won't get along.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!" A girl who had dark hair and looked slightly overweight walked up.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat calls after a minute.

"Burke, Bridget!" A petite dark skinned girl with her hair in a ponytail walks up to the stool.

"SLYTHERIN!" Bridget smirks before walking towards her house's table.

"Corner, Michael!" A boy with longish dark brown straight hair walks up to the stool and stares at me, and smirks.

"RAVENCLAW!" He winks at me before going to Ravenclaw's table. Weird…

"Crabbe, Vincent!" One of the chubby boys from earlier, goes up.

Almost immediately the hat shouts out, "SLYTHERIN!"

"Davis, Leanne!" A tanned, dark haired girl walks up.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat calls out after a few moments. She runs to her house with a smile on her face.

"Davis, Sam!" I assume he is Leanne's twin, walks up.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat calls out and he joins his sister on Hufflepuff's table.

"Dragomirova, Aleksandra!" A girl with long dark brown hair and red dip dye walks up. You know, she is quite exquisite. No! No, no, no! Bad Steph! I shake the thoughts away.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat calls out after 30 seconds. She grins and races to Gryffindor table. This is going to make my life harder.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat yells out instantly.

"Finnigan, Seamus!" A guy with dark hair walks up. The hat deliberates for a good minute before calling out,

"GRYFFINDOR!" He practically runs to the table with glee.

"Granger, Hermione!" She eagerly ran to the stool and put it on.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yells out and she grins before running to the table but I heard Ron groan before coughing as I give him a glare. Daphne Greengrass and Gregory Goyle were placed in Slytherin, Anthony Goldstein was placed in Ravenclaw, and Henry Jones and Megan Jones were placed in Hufflepuff. It is weird how many twins are going into Hogwarts this year. A name caught my attention quickly.

"Lestrange, Lyra." I felt Neville stiffen beside me and the halls filled with whispers. Oh, god…His parents were basically left insane by Lyra's parents…However, we shouldn't pre-judge a characte because of their parents. They could surprised us. Anyway, Lyra Lestrange could be another Sirius Black, and be placed in Gryffindor for all we know. The hat had at least taken 2 minutes before yelling,

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table politely clap as she makes her way over there with a slight smile. Although, Malfoy did not look happy. Neville got placed in Gryffindor much to his relief, and much to our amusement when we took the hat with him. Morag MacDougal was sorted into Ravenclaw and Ernie Macmillan into Hufflepuff. The hat had barely touched Draco Malfoy's head when it yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!" He went to join his lankies. Lily Moon was sorted into Ravenclaw while Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson were put into Slytherin. There were two twins up next, Padma Patil was sorted into Ravenclaw while Parvati Patil was sorted into Gryffindor. Sally-Anne Perks was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Potter, Harry!" There were immediate whispers in the hall before dying down. Harry walks up and sits down.

I could hear the sorting hat talking to Harry somehow. "Hmm…difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh, yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?" How in the hell was I hearing this?! Sometimes I can in bits but not like this! "Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know. It's all here in your head. And Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness! There's no doublt about that! No?" The hat pauses. "Well, if you're sure…better be…GRYFFINDOR!" I heard immense cheering from the Gryffindor table. I even heard George and Fred yelling about having 'Harry Potter' and I smirk. Harry hates attention on him.

"Potter, Stephani!" The cheering immediately becomes silent. I make my way to the stool and sit on it, and the hat is placed on my head. _Hello?_

 _Hello, you are a polite one aren't you? Like your brother's mind, your one is very difficult. You are very clever and I think Ravenclaw would suit you but so would Gryffindor, you are very brave and courageous I can tell. Alas, you are also very ambitious and cunning which are traits of a Slytherin._

 _I don't want to be in Slytherin._

 _Why not? You would prosper there and you would become a legend of sorts, I can see._

 _I don't want to be a legend. I just want to be with my brother, Harry. We are twins if you can't tell._

 _I know…You are much like your father in many ways but you have your mother's clevereness…I have changed my mind. You would work well in Gryffindor, I think. Better be…_ "GRYFFINDOR!" Gryffindor table erupts into cheers again.

"We got both Potters!" I hear George and Fred shouts while I sit down between Hermione and Harry. They were saving me a seat like Fred and George were saving a seat next to them for Ron, while Will was opposite Harry and I.

"Congratulations!" Will exclaims and high-fives me. The cheers die down and the next people go up. Zacharias Smith is sorted into Hufflepuff, Dean Thomas is sorted into Gryffindor, and Themistokles Tonks who is Aunt Meda's son and Lisa Turpin are sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Weasley, Ronald!" Ron walks up and the hat is placed on him.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yells out after a couple of seconds. Percy, Fred and George stand up while clapping the hardest. Ron makes his way over and sits down next to George…Or is it Fred? And on the other side of Will. There were only 3 people left. Rachel Yaxley and Blaise Zabini went to Slytherin while Celeste Zabini went to Ravenclaw. Much to her brother's annoyance, I can see.

"Your attention, please." McGonagall's voice rings out as she dings a spoon on her cup.

"Let the feast…begin." Dumbledore states and food magically appears on out table much to my awe and amusement. I start plating my food while Ron just stuffs his face while I snicker at. I could hear the Seamus guy talking boisterously.

"I'm half and half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mam's a witch. Bit og a nasty shock for him when he found out." Neville laughs at this and I felt my scar hurt as I looked at these two professors.

"Harry." I whisper. "Is your scar hurting?" Harry nods and leans over to Percy.

"Say, Percy, who's that teacher talking to that teacher in the Turban."

"Oh, that's Professor Snape, head of Slytherin house who is talking to Professor Quirrell." Percy explains.

"What's he teach?" I ask Percy.

"Potions. But everyone knows it's the Dark Arts he fancies. He's been after Quirrell's job for years." I heard a scream of surprise from Ron and turn his way. Oh, my merlin! It's a ghost!

"Hello! How are you? Welcome to Gryffindor." Says the ghost as other ghosts start to come out out to different tables.

"Hello, Sir Nicholas. Have a nice summer?" Percy asks.

"Dismal." Sir Nicholas answers. "Once again, my request to join the headless hunt has been denied." He begins to leave.

"Hey, I know you! You're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I prefer Sir Nicholas if you don't mind." Sir Nicholas states.

"Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Hermione asks in dismay.

"Like this." He grabs his head and pulls it to the side. I put down my food. Disgusting. His head is literally hanging by a thread. Ron screams again and Hermione scrunches up her face. I finished dinner and dessert when Dumbledore tells the prefects to take the first years up before the other students. Percy starts up the stairs.

"Gryffindors, follow me please. Keep up. Thank you." He start to climb another staircase. "This is the most direct path to the dormitories. Oh, and keep an eye on the staircases…they like to change." I grab on to the railing as the stairs change and Percy then approaches a portrait of a large woman in a pink dress.

"Password?"

"Caput Draconis." The painting swings open and we follow Percy inside. "Follow me, everyone. Keep up, quickly, come on."

"Oh, wow." I gasp as I look around. It was exactly how Dad described it. Red, fireplace, homely feel.

"Gather 'round here." I heard Percy state. "Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room. Boy's dormitories, upstairs and down to your left. Girls, the same on your right. You'll find that your belongings have aleady been brought up. Now, off to bed. You'll have an early start in the morning." I follow Hermione up the stairs and too up bedroom. Hermione gets a bed next to the door and I get the one next to her. Aleksandra gets the one next to me and Lyra gets the one next to her. Lavendar and Parvati take the other two beds. I grab my cage from the middle and let Athena out. Somehow she justs know where I am sleeping and lies on my bed. I start unpacking my belongings.

"So…" I hear Hermione trail off. "My name's Hermione Granger, I'm a muggleborn, I have no siblings and my parents are dentists. What about you?"

"Lavender Brown, I'm a pureblood, I have no siblings and my parents work in the ministry."

"Parvati Patil, I'm a halfblood, I have a twin sister but that's it, and my dad works in the minsitry while my mum is a maths teacher for secondary school kids."

"Lyra Lestrange, I'm a pureblood, I have no siblings and uh..." Lyra trailed off. "Look, I don't want you to think of me differently because I am nothing like my parents. Being put in Gryffindor should tell you that. My parents are in azkaban. You know them as Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. I am looked after by Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Ugh, they're alright but they are so prejudice against pretty much everything." She rolls her eyes. "This is all I was say on the matter, continue."

"Aleksandra Dragomirova, I'm a muggleborn, I have no siblings that I am aware of and I don't know my parents. I was in an orphan in Wales. So, really, I could be anything." I started feeling sorry for her but I stopped when she said, "Please don't pity me. I hate being pited. It was not your faultI was raised in an orphanage." She gestures for me to start talking.

"I'm Stephani Potter, I am a half-blood, I have a twin brother and three other siblings, and my dad is an auror and my mum is a healer for St. Mungo's."

"Stephani Potter? As in Harry Potter's twin?" I nod at Lavender's question. "Please, tell me all about him. What's he like? Favourite colour?" Her questions continued and I widen my eyes. I don't particular want to answer questions. Merlin…This girl could talk…

"You know, Lavender, I think we are all really tired and should get to bed. Like Percy said, We have an early start tomorrow." Lyra comments.

"No one asked for your opinion, Lyra." Did Lavender really just say that?!

"That's not how you treat people!" I snap at her. "Anyway, I am tired and I have to write a letter for my parents before I go to bed! And I don't want to be asked any questions about Harry! If you want to know them, then ask him yourself but I doubt he will be very open but you know, worth a shot right?" That shut her up and she huffed before going to the bathroom with Parvati. This is going to be an intersting 7 years with them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Harry and Ron run into class. "Whew, amazing, can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?" Oh god, Ron. You have no idea…McGonagall decided to turn back to her human form in that moment. "That was bloody brilliant."

"Thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley. Maybe if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocketwatch, maybe one of you would be on time."

"We got lost." Harry explains.

"Then perhaps a map?" McGonagall asks. "I trust you don't need one to find your seats."

The day went by quickly then we had potions with Snape for last period. I was talking with Lyra while Harry was next to Hermione in front of me with Rom sharing with Seamus to the left of them. Snape chose that time to walk in. "There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to enjoy the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few-" He looks at Draco to the left side of our table. "Who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death." I notice Harry writing things down and not paying attention. "Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confidant enough to not…pay…attention." Harry looks up after Hermione nudged him.

"Mr. Potter." Snape looks at me. "And Miss. Potter. Our…new…celebrities. Tell me, Mr. Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Harry stops for a moment. Come on, Harry! Mum told you this.

"The Draught of Living Death. It is a very powerful sleeping potion." Harry explains. Yesss! Snape's glare deepens.

"Where, Miss. Potter, would you looked if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" Snape asks me.

"Bezoars are stones that are taken from the stomach of a goat and can be used to protect people from most poisons." I answer.

"And what, Mr. Potter, is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?" He asks Harry. Easy, Mooney is a werewolf.

"Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant." Harry states. "Also known as aconite. It is also used as an ingredient in a Wolfsbane Potion but is highly toxic at the same time."

"Last question, Miss. Potter, what ingredients are used in Polyjuice Potion?" He looks smug.

"Well, in the first part of the potion, you use Fluxweed, Knotgrass, Lacewing Flies and leeches. Then in the second part, you used Horn of Bicorn, Lacewing Flies, Boomslang Skin and the hair of the person that you want to turn into."

"5 points off Gryffindor each, for using cheek." I drop my mouth open.

"Excuse me?! You asked us questions and we answered correctly! You can't take away points for that!" I exclaim and Snape looked absolutely furious. Probably no one has ever stood up too him.

"Just as arrogant as your father." Snape sneers.

"My father is not arrogant, _Snivellus_!" I use dad's old nickname for him.

"What did you just call me, Miss. Potter?" He appears and I stand up to spit into his face.

"Snivellus." His glare turned to death after I said that.

"Get out of my classroom, Miss. Potter and go to Dumbledore's office immediately."

"Fine." I stuff everything into my bag before striding out and slamming the door behind me. Uh, where was Dumbledore's office? I see Fred and George a few feet in front of me. I run after them. "Yo! Fred! George!" They turn around and I stop in front of them. "Do you know where Dumbledore's office is?" They have matching smirks on their faces.

"Got in trouble already?" One of the twins asked and I nod.

"Snape just got on my nerves and now, I have to go to Dumbledore's office." They grin.

"We have to go to Dumbledore's office as well." The other twin said.

"We decided to skip Herbology, so, we could prank Filch but got caught." The first twin explains and they link arms with me, practically dragged me after them.

"Come along, Miss. Potter. Dumbledore should be waiting for us already. He always has a way of knowing." The second or was it the first twin said? We stop in front of a Gargoyle statue. "Dumbledore likes sweets, so, just guess one."

"Rhubard and custard?" Much to my surprise, the gargoyle moved and a stairway appeared.

"Nice guess." We walk up the stairs and knock on the door.

"Come in." I heard Dumbledore's voice and we enter. "Ah. Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley and...Miss. Potter." He motions us to sit on the seats in front of the desk. I sit down between Fred and George. "Would you like a spot of tea?" Fred and George nod hastily while I nod hesitantly. A saucer and cup appear before us, filled with tea."So, what brings you three here already?" He asks as he sits down.

"Well, we decided to play a prank on Filch and-" The other twin continued.

"And decied to skip Herbology to do it." He nods.

"Miss. Potter?" Dumbledore asks me.

"Well, Harry and I were asked some questions by Snape for potions. Then he took 5 points of Gryffindor for giving him cheek when we didn't and I pointed that out. He then called my father arrogant, and then I defended my father and called him an old nickname my father, Pads and Mooney, well not Mooney all of the time, used to call him which was Snivellus which is when I was sent up here. And I met George and Fred on the way." Dumbledore nods in understanding.

"Unfortunately, you, Miss. Potter, will have detention-" I hold back my groan. "At 7pm with Severus. I will inform Snape of what is happening and that necessary actions were taken, so, you don't talk back in call or call him names other than Professor or Professor Snape. Agreed?" I nod. Dammit.

"Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, you will both have detentions with McGonagall at 7pm today as well." The Weasley's nodded. "I must also inform your parents." This, we three groaned at. "I take it Molly and Lily still have their tempers from school?" We all nod. "Though, I imagine James will be proud of you but that's just between us." I giggle at what Dumbledore said. "Now, run along. I do believe that it is time for a spot of dinner, perhaps?" We all nod and head down to the great hall, I separate from Fred and George, and go to where Harry, Hermione, Ron were talking with Lyra…I wonder where Aleksandra was…I shake the thought out of my head. Nothing bad can happen at Hogwarts…At least, not when Dumbledore is here.

"Hey, guys. What's the homework for potions?"

"You know, you really shouldn't talk to Professor Snape like that." Hermione scolds me but gives me the homework anyway.

After finishing eating, Hermione, Lyra and I made our way to the common room. We were all really tired and wanted to go to bed straight away…Where we saw Aleksandra asleep on her bed…That's why she missed dinner! I change quickly and go to bed, falling asleep instantly.

The Next Day at Mid-day

We had a free hour, so we worked on our homework. Well, at least Hermione, Lyra and I were. "Eye of rabbit, harp string hum. Turn this water, into rum." Seamus was saying a spell but something was going wrong. "Eye of rabbit, harp string hum…"

"What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water?" Harry asks Ron.

"Turn it into rum. Actually managed a weak tea yesterday, before-" A bang interrupts Ron and we all turn to Seamus. He had soot on his face and his hair was everywhere, I snicker but stop once we saw owls. "Ah. Mail's here!"

Hedwig sores in and drops a letter addressed to Harry and I inbetween us. I snatch it off the table before opening it and eagerly rip it open. There were two letters. One addressed to Harry and one for me. I read mine;

 _Dear Stephani,_

 _We am so proud that you got into Gryffindor. Like yourself, it was between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw for me as well. Although, we would have been proud of any house you got into, including Slytherin, because they would have an outstanding student._

 _You have met a Lyra Lestrange and a Aleksandra Dragomirova. When I told Sirius, he laughed out loud at a Lestrange in Gryffindor and told me to tell her, that she is welcome anytime and that if things get bad at home, Lyra can always stay with him because he had to go through it too._

 _I remember an Aleksandra Dragomirova name appearing in an article. She was attacked by Fenrir Greyback, the same person who bit Remus, and was bitten. It hit the papers because of how barbaric it was because she was only 2 at the time. If you want to confront her, do. However, don't not be tactful like your father. Be gentle and kind. Explain to her that you have an uncle who can talk to her. Just support her. Burn this letter immediately as well. We don't want any nasty people getting a hold of this and humiliating her, do we?_

 _Sirius, Remus, Nadi, Mel, Dar, Aaron, Zo, Reg and Tris send their love as do we._

 _Love from,_

 _Mum and Dad xxx_

I smile and fold the letter up, and place it in my inner pocket in my robe. I'll take it straight up to my dorm and burn it, it would look weird otherwise. "How was your letter?"

"Good! How was yours?" Harry replies.

"Okay, but mum didn't mention that I had a detention on the first day, so, maybe that letter will come later." Dammit, I was kinda expecting it now.

"It'll be fine. Can I borrow this?" Ron nods and Harry takes the newspaper. "Thanks."

"Hey, look!" Seamus exclaims. "Neville's got a Remembrall!"

"I've read about those." Hermione puts in her two cent. "When the smoke turns red-" The smoke in the ball turned red. "It means you've forgotten something."

"The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten." Neville replies.

"Hey, Ron, Steph, somebody broke into Gringotts." Harry says to us quietly, so, not many people hear. "Listen, Believed to be the work of dark witches or wizards unknown, Gringotts goblins, while acknowledging the breach, insist that nothing was taken. The vault in question, number 713, had in fact been emptied earlier that same day." Harry finished reading. "Do you remember, Steph? We bumped into Hagrid on the way into Gringotts and he slipped out that he withdrew something from vault number 713?"

"Of course." I say back. "How could I forget? Hagrid definitely withdrew something from vault number 713 and whoever wanted that thing from vault number 713, was willing to go to Azkaban for it." Just then, another owl stooped in and dropped a letter by Lyra. Not just a letter…A Howler. I cringe. The Malfoys probaby. I see Lyra cringe.

"It's from my grandfather…Cygnus Black…" She trails off and I see her visible gulp. There weren't many students around. It was 1st, 3rd and 6th year in the hall because we all had free hours. She opens the letter which instantly flies up to her face.

"LYRA DRUELLA LESTRANGE!" The booming voice of her grandfather comes out and she looks petrified. "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY YOUR FAMILY LIKE THAT! GETTING SORTED INTO A HOUSE WHICH ACCEPTS MUDBLOODS, HALF-BLOOD FILTH AND BLOOD TRAITORS! WHAT WOULD YOUR PARENTS SAY, BLOOD TRAITOR? THEIR OWN DAUGHTER WHO THEY WANTED TO BETTER THE WORLD FOR, GOT SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR! YOU DISGUST ME AN-" At that moment Lyra decided that she had enough and stabbed the howler through the head which stopped talking, and fell to the table. I could see that she could barely keep away tears.

"I'm going to go upstairs to the dorm room." Lyra states and walks away from us. The hall was in silence apart from a few snickering first year Slytherins, including Malfoy. Anger swept through me and I stride over to the Slytherin table. I grab Malfoy by the collar and haul him up, pointing a wand at him.

"Something funny, Draco?" I ask furiously. "Choose your next words wisely before they are your last." He opens his mouth and I put my wand to his next. "Don't test me."

"All I did was contact my mother and father through a letter to tell them because she failed to do so." He states, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You didn't even give her a chance to explain. It has only been a day!" I exclaim. "Well, guess what, Malfoy. You are a horrible cousin to the person that you were practically raised like siblings with!" I drop him to the ground. "You are not even worth my time. You know, why? Because I have a friend to comfort." I stride away and walk to my stuff, I snort. Malfoy clearly wasn't advanced enough to even know a few spells. Says the Pureblood families are better than all and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and snort. I put my things in my bag and grab the stabbed howler, and walk to Gryffindor common room. I find Lyra sitting on her bed, crying. "Hey, Lyra." She looks up. "Um, do you want me to read what the rest of the howler says?" She shakes her head and holds out her hand. I pass her the letter and she reads the rest of it. Horror shows on her face. "What's wrong?"

"They're disowning me." Her lip starts to tremble. "They are too pack my things and by Christmas and I have to find another place to live." Tears start pouring over. "They even have sent papers, talking about giving responsible of me over to someone else, and they signed them as well." I recall what mum and dad said in a letter.

"I know what to do." She looks at me with a bit of hope. "Sirius Black can help you." The hope dimmers. "No, don't give up hope. Listen, okay? My mum sent me a letter and I told her about friends I was making, like you and Aleksandra." She nods. "He laughed about a Lestrange getting into the Gryffindor house like he did when he got into the Gryffindor house. Anyway, he said to my mum that he is happy for you to stay with him if things get bad at home. Also, I'm pretty sure that my parents wouldn't mind you staying over all the time." Her eyes widen.

"Really?"I nod.

"We'll even write him a letter right now! Come on!" I get some parchment and ink. "I guess, I should explain what happened?" She nods.

 _Dear Uncle Pads,_

 _You know what you said to mum about having Lyra stay if things got bad? Well, it got bad. Cygnus Black, your uncle who is crazy, sent Lyra a letter of his disproval. Lyra is disowned and they have kicked her out. She even has official letters signed by the Malfoy's delcaring that whoever signs the documents are her guardians and would be responsible for her. Please help!_

 _Love from,_

 _Your favourite unruly raven haired niece with emerald eyes and a twin brother called Harry,_

 _Prongsette xxx_

I finish writing and put it in an envelope. "All done, time for Quidditch don't you think?" Lyra smiles at me and nods. "Let me just burn my letter, mum said too." I point at my letter. "Incendio!" It worked and it burned my letter but then it wouldn't stop. Oh no! "Exstinguentes!" I point my wand but nothing was happening. "Exstinguentes!" Was I pronouncing wrong? "Exstinguentes!" The fire suddenly stops and I breathe a sign of relief but it had burnt half of my bed. Dammit! Athena looked at me annoyed that I had disturbed her sleep. Ah, well. I'll probably get a few lines from McGonagall…hopefully…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I walk next to Hermione and Lyra outside to Quidditch lessons with our brooms. We line up and put our brooms down by our side as Madam Hooch comes down the line. "Good afternoon, class."

"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch." We reply, monotone, as a class.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left sid of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up." We do as she says. "Stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up!" I place my hand over the broom.

"UP!" I yell and it instantly goes into my hands, as it does Harry. Hermione stares in disbelief at us and I shrug. We have been playing Quidditch for years! Draco's broom flies to his hand after a few seconds. Hermione was struggling.

"Up!" Ron shouts beside me and his broom flies up but hits him in the face. "Ow!" I start laughing along with Harry. "Shut up, you two." He laughs as well though.

"Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end." We all mount the broom. "When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle…3…2…"*whistle blew* Neville immediately lifts off from the ground but looks quite frightened. "Mr. Longbottom."

"Neville, what are you doing?" I hear Aleksandra ask.

"We're not supposed to take off, yet." I hear Dean say but Neville begins flying away. Oh, Merlin!

"M-M-Mr. Longbottom. Mr. Longbottom!" I hear Madam Hooch shouting.

"Ahhh!" Neville was shouting.

"Neville!" Most of Gryffindor house shout as he goes up and up.

"Come back down this instant!" Hooch demands but to no avail. Neville soars through the sky and hits the wall a couple of times before heading our way.

"Help!" Neville yells.

"Mr. Longbottom!" Madam Hooch exclaims before diving out the way and all of us scattering out of the way. Neville flies through the archway before coming round the top but got caught on a spear of a statue. We all run over.

"Ah…help!" His cloak rips and he falls to a torch but then slips out of the cloak, and falls to the ground. "Ahh!"

"Everyone out of the way!" Madam Hooch explains and we move quickly. Madam Hooch examines his arm and says some thing to him but starting to lead Neville away. "Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch." They leave. Poor Neville.

"Did you see his face?" Draco asks and I told around to glare at him. He had Neville's rememberall! "Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat ass." The Slytherins laugh. Harry and I step forward at the same time.

"Give it here, Malfoy." We demand but he smirks.

"No." He states. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." He soars into the sky. "How 'bout up on the roof." He flies up some more. "What's the matter, Potters? Bit beyond your reach?" Harry and I exchanges glances and immediately get on our brooms.

"Harry, Steph, no!" Hermione exclaims. "You heard what Madam Hooch said! Beside, can you even fly?" We fly off anyway. "What idiots." Was here reply. We stop opposite Malfoy.

"Give it here, Malfoy, or We'll knock you off your broom!" I say.

"Is that so?" We make a charge at him but he 360s out of the way. "Have it your way, then!" He throws the rememberall through the air and we both race for it. We zoom past Malfoy and almost hit the window before flipping and catch it at the same time. I mean, we both are good seekers but I play chaser more than I do seeker. Harry is the best seeker there is, in my opinion. How can you even catch something at the same time? It doesn't make any sense but our hands are both on the rememberall. We fly back to the group of students and they cheer.

"Good job, Harry!" Seamus exclaims.

"Oh, that was wicked, Harry." Dean says.

"Harry and Stephani Potter?" I hear McGonagall call us and we turn to her. "Follow me." We follow her but I growl as I hear Malfoy laughing with his goons. We were walking when she asked. "Have either of you played Quidditch before?"

"All the time." I supply. I don't want to get in any more trouble as I have been in. "Harry plays seeker but I prefer chaser." Harry nods in agreement.

"Brilliant." I hear her mumble under her breathe as we stop outside a classroom. "You wait here."

"Excuseme, excuse me, Professor Quirrell." I hear McGonagall say. "Could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

"Oh. Y-yes, of course." I heard Quirrell stuttered reply. A teenager boy with brown hair walked out.

"Potters, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I have found you a Chaser and Seeker!" My mouth drops open as does Harry. We are first years, we are not allowed to play Quidditch!

"Are you sure, Professor?" Wood asks.

"I am." McGonagall answers. "I have seen their talent for myself. Also, I do recall that a certain James Potter, their father, was a chaser and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team who led them to victory while as Captain until he left." Wood nods impressed.

"Okay, Professor. We are having a practice today, actually. Would it be possible for you, Stephani, Harry, to come?"

"I can but Steph can't." Harry answers.

"I have detention with Snape at 7." Wood nods in thought.

"Angelina, Katie, George and Fred made sure that their week was free, just in case of rearrangements. We can practice tomorrow." I nod.

"I'll try not to get detention in the next 24 hours then." I see McGonagall giving me a disapproving look. "Not thatI was planning to Professor McGonagall! I would never do that!"

"Also, a prankster and touble-maker like their father." McGonagall comments to Wood.

"Should I be concerned that Stephani, Will, Fred and George are on the team together?" He asked jokingly.

"I would be, Wood. I would be." McGonagall has a hint of a smile on her face. "Now, back to your lesson, Wood. Even if there is only 2 minutes left of the school day." Wood nods and we say are farewell before going with McGonagall to her office. We settle down. "I assume, you know the rules of Quidditch?" We nod and she smiles slightly. "Did you know you two are the youngest Seekers and Chasers in a century?"

"Wow! Really?" She nods. "That's amazing!" Were our replies to McGonagall.

"You can go now, I do believe that Mr. Weasley is waiting outside and I know that your family will want to know." She waves us out and we explain everything that happened between Quidditch lessons and now.

"Seeker and Chaser? But first years never make their house teams! You must be the youngest Quidditch players in…" Ron trails off.

"A century, according to McGonagall." Harry finishes off.

"Hey, well done, Har, Steph, Wood's just told us!" I hear Will reply and I look around while walking. She was with Fred and George. Will was a chaser on the team.

"Fred and George are on the team, too. Beaters." Ron comments.

"Our job is to make sure that you two don't get bloodied up too bad." One of the twins explains. "Can't make any promises, of course, Rough game, Quidditch."

"Brutal." The other one replies. "But no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally…" We break off from them.

"But they'll turn up in a month or two!" I hear Will yell behind me and I heard snickers. I roll my eyes at their antics.

"You'll be great, Steph, Harry! Trust me!" Hermione begins to walk beside me as Ron finishes his sentence.

"What if we make a fool of ourselves?" Harry questions and I snort.

"You won't make a fool of yourselves. It's in your blood." Hermione explains gently.

"You mean, our dad was a chaser who won the cup each year as Captain?" I ask her and she nods.

"Their awards on in the trophy case." She points out the awards as we walk past. Nice.

We make out way to the common room. "I'm telling you, it's spooky. She knows more about you than you do."

"Who doesn't?" Harry questions rhetorically from behind me and I sigh because it is too true. The staircase begins to move and we grab the railings. "What's happening?" I hear Harry ask after Ron screams.

"The staircases change, remember?" The staircase fits into a new place.

"Let's go this way."

"Before the staircase moves again." Ron agrees before we open a door and walk into a dark room…Spooky as well.

"Does anyone feel like…we shouldn't be here?" I ask.

"We're not supposed to be here." Hermione answers. "This is the 3rd floor. It's forbidden." A flame suddenly pops up on a stone supportand Mrs. Norris appears.

"Let's go."

"It's Filch's cat." I hiss.

"Run!" Harry whispers urgently and we run, the flames lighting our way until we get to a door. "Quick, let's hide through that door!" He tries the lock. "It's locked!"

"That's it, we're done for!"

"Oh, move over!" Hermione exclaims and points her wand at the door. "Alohomora." The door opens. "Get in." We all hurry in and close the door behind us.

"Alohomora?" Ron questions.

"Standard book of spells, Chapter 7." Hermione answers. We wait a few moments. "Filch is gone."

"Probably thinks this door's locked." Ron replies.

"It was locked." Hermione comments as I turn around. Oh, my merlin…There was a three-head dog sleeping…Is that a trap door?

"And for good reason." Harry states as we back up. The dog has begun to wake and starts growling.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" We all scream and scramble out the door. We battle against the dog to close the door but we eventually won. We race back to the common room and don't stop until we are inside.

"What do they think they're doing?" Ron asks. "Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school."

"You don't use your eyes, do you?" Hermione replies. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"I wasn't looking at its feet!" Ron exclaims. "I was a bit preoccupied with its heads. Or maybe you didn't notice, there were three!" We begin to climb the stairs.

"It was standing on a trap door, Ron." I supply and Hermione nods in agreement.

"Which means it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something."

"Guarding something?" Harry questions.

"That's right." Hermione answers. "Now, if you two don't mind, We're going to bed before either if you come up with another clever idea to get us killed…or worse, expelled!" Hermione grabs my hand and pulls me with her to the dorm. Aleksandra was asleep again…I still need to question her about being a werewolf. Lyra was doing homework, as was Parvati while Lavender was in the bathroom. All were in their PJs. I sit on my bed and notice a letter on my bedside table in Sirius' scratchy writing. It has only been a few hours! How in the hell did Hedwig get back so quick with a letter?! Not that I was complaining or anything.

Dear Prongsette,

Tell Lyra that my offer still stands. I may absolutely despise her mother and father but that doesn't mean she is anythin like them. People expected me to be like my parents but not believing in blood supremacy and put into Gryffindor proved them wrong, didn't it? She doesn't believe in this blood supremacy crap and she was sorted into Gryfindor, says something about her, doesn't it? Anyway, I didn't have any family members that I could go to because I was disowned and had lost contact with the family members I did like because they were disowned too. However, your father, mother, Mooney, our siblings, my beautiful wife and children are all my family; and they will be Lyra's too. I also signed the forms you gave me and sent them to the ministry. If all is in order, I will be declared her guardian and will take full responsibility for her by the end of November, where her stuff will be sent to me. Tell Lyra that I looked forward to meeting her, as does Nadi, Zo, Reg and Tris, along with your family.

Love,

Your favourite black haired uncle with stormy grey eyes, and a wife called Nadiné and children called Zoé, Regulus, Tristan and soon-to-be Lyra,

Uncle Pads xxx

I pass the letter to Lyra who looked relieved and started hugging me. "Thank you, thank you!" I hug back.

"You should be thanking Pads." She nods and sits back down.

"I'll write him a letter to say so right now." I shrug.

"Go for it. I need to write letters to everyone. Each individual person in my family. Oh, also Charlie and Tonks! They'll want to know what house I am in!" I settle down to begin writing my letters.

 _Dear Mum and Dad,_

 _I have some news for you two! I'm dating someone! They are so nice and kind to me, we even had a first kiss…Only joking! Sorry for giving you a heart attack, dad! Not sorry, actually! Anyway, the real news! Harry and I made the Quidditch team! I'm a chaser and Harry is a seeker! We are the youngest quidditch players in a century, according to McGonagall! First match is coming up soon, hopefully you two can make it along with the rest of the family? Miss you both!_

 _Love from,_

 _Your fantastic, if I do say so myself, daughter with a twin named Harry,_

 _Stephani xxx_

I quickly work on everyone's elses letters before bundling them in a pile with Lyra's letter to Pads. I get changed and climb into bed, and turning the light out and falling into a deep slumber.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nearly 2 months had flew by and it was officially Halloween! I love Halloween! It is my favourite holiday because it gives me an excuse to prank and scare people which is what I have been doing all morning with Will, Fred and George. Although, we still had lessons which was a bummer. I walk into Charms, just as the lesson starts, and sit down between Aleks and Harry. Harry was sitting next to Seamus while Lyra was paired with Dean in the row above us.

"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation the ability to make objects fly." Professor Flitwick starts off. "Uh, do you all have your feathers?" Hermione raises hers. "Good. Now, uh, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing, hmm? The swish and flick. Everyone." We demonstrate the 'swish and flick'. "Good. And enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go then." I point my wand at the feather.

"Wingardium Leviosa." The feather shakes and hovers a foot off the desk before going down again.

"Well done, Miss. Potter. A very good first try. 5 points to Gryffindor." Aleks nudges me.

"Well done." She whispers to me with a smile.

"Thanks." I see Hermione levitate her feather.

"Oh, well done! See here, everyone! Ms. Granger's done it as well! Oh, splendid!" I grin at hermione who grins back. Seamus begins waving his wand about.

"Wingard Levosa. Wingard Levosa." BOOM! Seamus' feather explodes and Flitwick looks shocked.

"I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor." Harry comments in shock.

The lesson finishes quickly and we walk out to go to lunch. "It's Leviosa, not Leviosar. Honestly, she's a nightmare. No wonder she hasn't got any friends!" I hear Ron remark in front of me. I hear Hermione bustle past them quickly, sniffling. I got angry at Ron.

"I think she heard you." I hear Harry say.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" I exclaim, storming up to him. "Instead of making fun of her, why don't you be friends with her? The only reason that you are even being nasty is because your jealous of Hermione! Just because she is a talented student doesn't you have to make fun of her for being right." I start striding off before whirling around again. "By the way, she does have a friend! Me!" I storm off in the direction Hermione went.

All the girls, including me, tried to comfort Hermione but to no avail. What Ron said was really horrible and it has always been a sensitive issue with her. You see, we didn't have a lot of friends in Muggle School because everyone thought we were strange. Now, we are at Hogwarts with people of our own abilities and they are still making fun at her for being slightly different. "Come on, Hermione. I'm sure he is regretting it now and didn't realise how much it eould hurt you." I say over the stall and she comes out, and I follow her but notice a very large and ugly looking troll in the bathroom. I gulp and we begin to back up to the stalls. We race into the stalls and duck as the troll smashes the stalls with his club. We scream as rubble falls on top of us. Harry and Ron burst into the room.

"Stephani, Hermione, move!" Harry yells at us and we begin to crawl under the stall as the troll smashes the remaining stalls.

"HELP!" I yell out from the rubble as did Hermione.

"Hey, pea brain!" I hear Ron shout at the troll and Ron clunks a piece of wood on his head. Hermione and I make our escape from the stalls, and go under the sinks. The troll spots us and smashes his club down, and Hermione and I quickly move to the side where our spot was then smashed by the club.

"Ahhh! Help!" We yell out. Harry withdraws his wand and runs forward then is lifted up by grabbing the troll's club. Harry is shaken around before his wand goes up the troll's nose. I screw up my face in disgust. The troll grabs Harry's leg and holds him upside down.

"Do something!" Harry yells as he pulls up to miss a duck.

"What?" Harry pulls up again.

"Anything!" Harry pulls up again. "Hurry up!" Ron grabs his wand and Hermione makes the movement with her hand.

"Swish and flick!" Hermione states.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The club is lifted out of the troll's hand and the troll looks up as the club comes crashing down on his head. "Cool." The troll wavers and drops Harry who crawls away, and barely escapes being crushed by the troll. Hermione and I approach the troll hesistantly.

"Is it…dead?" Hermione questions.

"I don't think so." Harry answers. "Just knocked out." Harry pulls the wand out of the troll's nose. "Ew. Troll bogies." McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell come rushing in.

"Oh! Oh, my goodness!" McGonagall gasps. "E-Explain yourselves, both of you!"

"Well, what it is-" They both start but Hermione interrupts them.

"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall." Hermione states, calm as a cucumber. I gape as does everyone else in the room.

"Ms. Granger?" McGonagall questions in disbelief.

"I went looking for the troll. I'd read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. If Harry, Steph and Ron hadn't come and found me…I'd probably be dead."

"Be that as it maybe…it was an extremely foolish thing to do." McGonagall scolds Hermione. "I would have expected more rational behaviour on your part, Ms. Granger. 5 points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgment. As for you three, I just hope you realise how fortunate you are. Not many students could take on a full grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. 5 points…will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck." Snape and McGonagall leave, and we look at Quirrell.

"Perhaps you ought to go... …M-might wake up…heh." We leave and make our way to the common room when I notice a deep gash on my arm.

"Guys, I'm going to the infirmary to get this checke out." I point to my arm. "Try not to get into trouble on your way to the common room."

I make my way to the infirmary without getting caught. "Madam Pomfrey?"

She took one look at my arm before rushing forward. "My dear girl, what happened to you?"

"The troll." I answer simply and she widens her eyes considerable.

"Minerva didn't say anyone was injured!" Madam Pomfrey exclaims as she gets to work on my arm and saying a few spells.

"My sleeves were rolled down, I didn't even know until I roll up my sleeves to check my arm because it hurt a lot!"

"My dear, this is more than a gash. There is a slight crack running through your bone! You were right to come to me!" I drop my jaw in shock.

"Can you heal it?! I have Quidditch tomorrow!"

"It is already healed. The crack in the bone was minor." I sag my shoulders in relieve. "Although, you will have to wear an arm brace for a few days." I nod and she puts the brace on my arm. "You can go back to your dorm now and here is a slip explaining where you were." She hands me the slip and I make my way to Gryffindor common room with no trouble. I make my way to the dorms and get ready for bed. I read my letters from Mel, Dar, Aaron, Zo, Reg and Tris before going to bed. I'll see them tomorrow anyway. First quidditch match.

I wake up the next day and get changed into my quidditch gear before walking down to breakfast. I sit down next to Wood. "Hey, Stephani. Exicted for your first game?"

"Nervous is more like it." I answer and I bite into some toast and jam.

"Don't worry about the first game. Can't be any worse than mine." I raise an eyebrow. "I took a bludger to the head in the first 2 minutes and woke up a week later."

"That is not helping my confidence." Wood chuckles. "But thanks anyway." I notice Harry not eating. "Excuse me." I move down to sit next to Harry.

"Har, eat a small bit of food."

"Steph's right, Harry. You're gonna need your strength today." Hermione seconds me.

"I'm not hungry." Harry states and I was about to retort when Snape appears.

"Good luck today, Potters." Why the hell was he wishing us 'Good Luck'? "Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you two…even if it is against Slytherin." Snape walks away with a limp.

"That explains the blood." Harry comments. Huh?

"Blood?" Hermione asks and Harry gestures for us to come closer, so, he can whisper.

"Listen, last night, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could try and get past that 3 headed dog. But, he got himself bitten, that's why he's limping." Harry explains his theory.

"But why would anyone go near that dog?" Hermione asks.

"The day that we were at Gringotts, Hagrid slipped he took something out of one of the vaults after we bumped into him. He said that we shouldn't worry and it was Hogwarts' business, very hush hush." I answer.

"So you're saying…" Hermione trails off.

"That's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants." Harry finishes. Three owls fly in with brooms. One of the parcel's went to Will, while the other parcels went to Harry and I.

"Bit early for mail, isn't it?" I hear Hermione ask.

"Let's open it." I comment and we rip open both packages. "Oh my, Merlin!" I exclaim. "It's the Nimbus 2000!"

"But who…?" I notice a note attached to the broom and I read it.

A present for you three.

Love,

Mum and Dad

"Harry." I show him the note before handing the note to Will who was a few seats down with Fred, George and Angelina; admiring the broom.

After breakfast, we make our way to the Quidditch tower that we were flying froom. I was situated between Angelina and Will. We all exchange smiles between each other before mounting our brooms. The doors open and we zoom out.

"Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season!" I hear Lee Jordan's commentating. "Today's game Slytherin versus Gryffindor!" There was cheering. "Slytherin's team are as follows; Marcus Flint, Adrian Pucey and Jack Avery as Chasers, Quinn Avery and Lucian Bole as Beaters, Mile Bletchley as Keeper and Terence Higgs as Seeker." Slytherin house cheer. "Gryffindor's team are as follows; Oliver Wood as Keeper; Fred and George Weasley as Beaters; Angelina Johnson, Willow Evans-Potter and Stephani Potter as Chasers; and Harry Potter as Seeker!" Gryffindor cheers loudly with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I notice my family in one of the stands and wave to them before taking my position. "The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game."

"Now, I want a nice clean game…from all of you." She practically glares at Slytherin. She kicks the trunk and the bludgers zoom out.

"The bludgers are up…followed by the Golden Snitch." Lee comments. "Remember, the snitch is worth 150 points. The seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game." Madam Hooch throws the quaffle into the air and I tune out Lee's commentating. I start zooming about, dodging bludgers as Angelina scores. I notice Flint has the quaffle and I follow him immediately. Oliver saves the ball and I catch the quaffle before racing off with the quaffle. I duck as a bludger comes for my head and throw the ball at the right hoop. I score! "Stephani Potter scores! 10 points to Gryffindor!" I turn back around and high-five Will. Oliver blocks another goals then Slytherin start to get dirty. Before I knew it, there was a bludging heading straight for me and hits my shoulder. Hard. So hard that I fall off my broom. I hit the ground from 20 feet in the air and I groan in pain. I get back up and grab my broom. That was uncalled for and I mount my broom again, despite Madam Pomfrey's protests, I fly back up. "Don't worry, folks! Gryffindor's Stephani Potter is back in the game!" Cheers from Gryffindor followed as did boos from Slytherin. Flint then takes it into his own hands and bats a bludger at Oliver who falls to the ground. Then to top it off Angelina is boxed in by Flint and Bole. They send her straight into the tower and falls out at the bottom. Dammit.

"Harry, find the snitch quickly!" I yell out to Harry as I grab the quaffle after Slytherin score. I dodge all the Slytherin's punches and kicks before scoring in the middle hoop. Straight past Bletchley and I give him a smug look before racing off again.

"Another goal by Stephani Potter! 10 points for Gryffindor!" I go to the goal. Our reserve keeper was already out cold. Slytherin had the quaffle, so, we needed someone to protect the goal. Pucey shoots to the left hoop and I block the goal by catching it before zooming off to the other goals but pass it to Will who feigns a goal to the right but shoot to the left. Flint really didn't look happy with that goal. "Willow Evans-Potter scores! 10 points to Gryffindor! I must say, doesn't she look pretty up their-" Will rolls her eyes. "Sorry Professor!"

I notice Harry dangling by 1 hand on his broom and I go to help when Harry clambers back on the broom and races off to the snitch. He makes a dive for the snitch with Higgs but Higgs backs out as the approach the ground quickly while Harry barely makes it out. He stands up on his broom but topples forward on the broom and falls to the ground. He lurches like he is going to be sick but then the Snitch pops out of his mouth and lands in his hands. "He's got the Snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!" Madam Hooch blows the whistle.

"Gryffindor win!" She exclaims and everyone apart from Slytherin house cheer. Will arm hugs me before clapping aggressively.

"Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor!" Was being chanted by our house as well as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I fly down to Harry and dismount my broom. We hug and all of the chanting goes to 'Awwwhhhhh' from the females.

"Well done, Har." I whisper in his ear before letting go. Har wraps an arm around my shoulders before leading me away to the changing rooms with the other Gryffindors. Will joins us in the changing rooms and we make our way outside because we knew our family would be out their. Dad and Mum were the first to descend on us three. They hug the life out of us and my shoulder stung. I should probably get that checked out by Madam Pomfrey. After hugs are exchanged by everyone, we sit down on the grass and start talking.

"You know, you really scared us, Steph." Dad comments and I frown. "You fell off your broom from 20 ft in the air." I grin.

"I've had worse when playing quidditch! Remember when I had to spend a month in St. Mungo's? Mum wouldn't even let me near the quidditch pitch years after that! She also gave Pads a right scolding that would put Mrs. Weasley to shame." Pads groans.

"Don't remind me! I still have those bruises!"

"Drama queen!" Zo replies from Pad's lap and Pads smirked before starting to tickle her She starts squirming and laughing, and we all grin at the interaction. Who would of thought the previous player who would never settle down, settled down and even had children to prove it!

"I'll save you!" Reg yells and jumps on Pads. Pads now had a hold of Reg too, so, Tris jumps on Pads. I see Dad laughing and I exchange a look with Harry who grins. I ignore the pain in my shoulder and tackle Dad to the ground, who wasn't expecting it so fell back. Harry jumps on as well and we wrestle with him. Then Will, Darren, Mel and Aaron join in and we create a dog pile of Potter's.

"Moooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnneyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Dad yells out. "Savveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee mmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Mooney laughs and shakes his head, and goes back to talk to Mum and Nadi. We go on for a couple more minutes before mum rolls her eyes in dismay.

"Come on, you lot. Let your dad's up." We get off Dad and form a circle with our cousins away from the grown-ups while Dad and Pads were recovering.

"She said get off our dad's but she didn't say that about our uncles." I whisper to them and we all smirk. "Okay, Darren, Harry and I will attack Pads. Mel, Aaron and Will attack Mooney. Zo, Reg and Tris attack Dad aka Prongs. Agreed? Okay, but we want there guard to be down, so, when I say 'Lion', we attack." Everyone nods.

"When did you get to be such a good strategist?" Tris asks.

"Well, we are the children of the greatest pranksters of all time. We are all good pranksters and strategists!" I answer with a grin. We walk back over to the group who looked at us suspiciously.

"I know those looks. You have either done something or you are planning something!" Nadi states and we give innocent looks.

"Of course not, Mother dearest." Zo comments. "We were just talking about teenager things. You know boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, hormones, changes-"

"Okay." Mum interrupts. "Don't tell us."

"For your information, Zo, you are not allowed to date until you're at least 30." Zo rolls her eyes at Pads before sitting down again and talking again."

"You know-" I say loudly to which everyone looks at me. "Another good thing about Gryffindor is the iconic symbol of a LION!" With that we all tackle our respective adults to the ground. We were currently wrestling Mooney who had an advantage of being a werewolf therefore much stronger. Dar was on his back while I was on his shoulders and Harry was being put into a headlock by Mooney.

"You lot!" Mum yells. "I thought I said not to tackle your Dad's?"

"But Mum-" Mel starts who gives a smirk. "We're not tackling our Dad's, we're tackling our Uncles!" We then all go back to wrestling our uncles. Madam Pomfrey then comes over.

"Miss. Potter?" Will, Mel and I stop, and turn our heads towards Madam Pomfrey. "Stephani, will you please, for the love of Merlin, get down from Mr. Lupin's shoulder and let me do my job! As far as I know, you made it worse by going back into the game against my orders! It was dislocated!" I widen my eyes. Crap. Dislocated. There was practically steam coming from her ears and nose. Mooney lets go of Harry and lifts me to the ground, despite my grumbles. I say goodbye to everyone before going off with Madam Pomfrey. Thank you for cutting my time short with my family, Madam Pomfrey, Thank You.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N-I'm so sorry peeps for being absent for a while. I've been run down by sixth form and my first year at university but I'm back!

Time had flown by again and it was the Christmas holidays. Harry, Will, Hermione and I were going home which put a set back on finding information on Nicholas Flamel. Harry and I are going to look in the library at home. However, Ron is staying here for Christmas though. Currently though, We were playing chess before we leave. "Knight to E-5." Harry's knight moves to E-5. Harry was awful at chess.

"Queen to E-5." Ron states and the queen whacks the knight off the board.

"That's totally barabaric!" Hermione exclaims.

"That's wizard's chess. I see you've packed." Hermione and Ron were still working through their problems. To be honest, I think the way they argue is kinda similar to how mum and dad describe what they were like to each other while in Hogwarts. Although, Ron clearly is pining after Hermione but I have a bet with George and Fred that they will get together before they leave Hogwarts in Seventh Year. I better win.

"See you haven't." Hermione retorted.

"Change of plans." Ron explains. "My parents decided to go to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie. He's studying dragons there!"

"Good. You can look in the library for information on Nicholas Flamel." Hermione states. Damn that Nicholas Flamel person!

"We've looked a hundred times!" Ron exclaims and Hermione leans closer.

"Not in the restricted section…Happy Christmas, Ron. I'll see you two on the train." Did Hermione just recommend breaking the rules?

"I think we've had a bad influence on her." Ron comments as an after thought. "How am I meant to go to the restricted section though? It is restricted." Harry and I exchange glances.

"Ron, do you promise to keep this a secret?" Ron nods and I take out the cloak from my suitcase, and hand it to Ron. "This isn't just any cloak. This is a heirloom passed from Ancestor to descendant. It's an invisibility cloak. Please don't lose it or damage it in any way." Ron looks at the cloak in awe.

"I promise that I won't." Ron reassures. "I won't let the twins see it either." He hides it in his cloak. "You two better get to the gate or you'll miss the train." I hug Ron before leaving while Harry pats him on the back. "Merry Christmas, Ron." Harry and I just get to the gate as people were leaving to go to the train on carriages pulled by themselves. We get on a carriage with Will, Lyra and Hermione.

"Have any plans over Christmas, Hermione?" I ask.

"Yes." Hermione answers. "From the 23rd to the 1st, we are going to France to visit my grandparents. What about you guys?"

"Having the whole family come over." Will answers. "Mooney, Pads, Nadi, Zo, Reg and Tris. Although, we generally go over to Spain during the holidays to visit my Abuela. To be honest though, she is more like everyone's abuela." Harry and I nod in agreement.

"She is also the reason why we know so much Spanish." I comment. "Fluent. Better than most foreign speakers of the language, I would say." Hermione gives me a look. "Sorry, arrogance is a trait that I get from our dad. He was horrible in school but then my mum mellowed him out."

"Also, sarcasm is a definite traits of yours." Harry adds on, much to my bemusement. "Once we get home, she will be more level headed. It's just because she's away from mum who makes all of us mellow. Including me." Hermione gives a doubtful look. "Trust me, I may not seem like it but I can be very sarcastic and arrogant at times. I just tend to do it more in my head then flaunt it." Hermione gives us disapproving looks.

"Hey, it's not like we are like it to our friends or family. Maybe a bit of sarcasm here of there but no arrogance with family or friends." I comment.

"You really are digging yourselves a deeper hole." Will says. "You get used to their quirks. It's like, everyone has a bad trait about them. Arrogance for Steph, Harry and I have short-tempers. I have a really short fuse. Even better, when I get started, I don't stop. I even on occasion slip into Spanish accidentally. Surely, you have a bad trait like everyone?" Hermione huffs but nods.

"I can be bossy."

"Oh, come on!" I exclaim and I fake a hurt look. "It has taken my over 5 years to find out and 2 minutes for Will? I'm offended!" I can see Hermione begins to feel bad. "Don't worry, I'm joking." The carriage suddenly pulls to a stop and we pile into a compartment on the train after making sure our luggage is put on to the train.

After a long 9 hour journey home, we collected our luggage, and look around for our parents in the midst of the chaos of children and parents alike. I spot mum and dad talking to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and nudge Hermione. "Over there." Will walks ahead of us.

"Heya Prongs, Lils." I heard Will greet. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Can I just say that Hermione is a wonderful friend?" Hermione's parents smile at this. Nice charming skills, Will. Harry and I hug Dad and Mum while Hermione hugs her own parents.

"Happy Christmas." I say to Hermione as I hug her goodbye.

"Happy Christmas to you too." Did I mention that her parents moved house during the summer? Well, they did and too a different area completely. I notice Lyra behind us looking awkward.

"Dad, Mum, meet Lyra Lestrange." I nudge her forward. "Lyra, meet my mum and dad." She puts her hand out to be shaken by dad and mum.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Potter." She greets shyly, not even looking at their faces. So shy. "Nice to meet you both." Dad shakes her hand.

"Hello, Lyra. Nice to meet you too." Dad replies with a smile. "You're going to love it with Padfoot, trust me. Also, it's James or Prongs, okay? Mr. Potter makes me feel old." Lyra nods.

"Okay, Mr. Pot-I mean, James." She still held her head down and mum pulls Lyra into a hug before letting go. This is the first time Lyra looks up and she looks up, wide eye at mum.

"Hey, Lyra. It's a pleasure meeting you." Mum says kindly. "My names Lily and please call me it, no Mrs. Potter, okay? You're family now." Lyra nods. "You know, you can look at adults when they speak to you."

"I was taught to look at adults only when they tell you too." I heard her mumble.

"Trust me, you don't have to do that. You have the free-will to do what you want and to think what you want." Dad comments. "And if anyone makes you do something against your will, this goes to all of you, tell a trusted adult."

"Thank you." Lyra says again.

"No need to thank. Right, kiddos. Apparating." Dad comments as Hermione and her parents leave. I grab Dad's hand and Will grabs the other hand while Harry and Lyra grabs Mum's hands. We land in the chaotic Potter-Black-Lupin family gathering at Potter Manor. Our siblings and cousins run to us while screaming our names. Aaron and Reg ram into me and I fall over while hugging them.

"Hello, you little rascals." They were both sitting on me and looking at me with curious looks. "Have you been creating trouble for everyone in our departure?" They grin and nod. "Good. Keep on doing it."

"No, Stephani!" Mum exclaims. "Don't encourage them! They are already encouraged by Sirius and James!" I snicker. "Now, Lyra." Lyra looks at mum. "This is Sirius." Lyra walks forward and holds out her hand which Pads shakes.

"Hello, Mr. Black. Thank you for taking me in." He cringes at being called Mr. Black.

"Just Sirius, Padfoot ot Pads please." Lyra nods. "No formalities are necessary. Also, the woman next to me is the love of my life, Nadiné." Lyra shakes her hand with a ghost of a smile. "This is Zoé who is my eldest." Lyra shakes Zo's hand. "These two are twins and my youngest, Regulus and Tristan." She shakes their hands.

"Regulus? I've heard that name before." She scrunches up her face in thought.

"It was my brother's name." Pads explains with a fond look. A few years ago, we found out what happened and that he was basically a hero.

"Oh, sorry." She mumbles with a wince on her face.

"Well, Lyra." I'm trying to take the conversation off death, so, bugger off. "You know Harry, Will, Mum and Dad. This is Darren." Lyra shakes Darren's hand. "This is another set of twins and the youngest again, Melissa and Aaron." She shakes their hands. "We have so many sets of twins in the family. Very rare." I wink at Lyra who grins.

"Eveyrone." Mum interrupts. "Lyra, Will, Harry and Steph need to pack for your Abuela's house. We are leaving tomorrow at 10am by floo." Dad, Pads, Darren and Mooney help Harry, Will, Lyra and I with taking our luggage upstairs. I release Athena from her cage when I get to my room. Athena literally runs to Lyra's room and jumps at Pads who yelps as she digs her claws in.

"Athena!" She looks at me. "You don't attack, Pads! Remember? You are an intelligent cat after all!" She meows in shame and jumps down from Pads. "Sorry. Cats and dogs thing. She knows your my dogfather."

"You cheeky bugger!" Pads exclaims with a grin.

"Yo, Padfoot!" Dad calls. "Don't kill my daughter please! Blood stains are so hard to clear up!"

"Thanks, Dad!" I yell back, sarcastically. "Really helping my case!"

"You're welcome!" Dad yells back and I grin before laughing.

"Hey, any chance we can prank Dad before we leave? Because Abuela would kill us if we pranked Dad at her house." Pads gives me an evil grin.

"I'm waayyyyyyy ahead of you." Pads replies, throwing his arm over my shoulder and Lyra's, and leading us downstairs to the kitchen. "Just little ones mind you. Lily-flower and my dear wife have tempers."

"Make sure they don't hear that, Pads." Will voice came from behind us and she moves into the room.

"Of course they won't hear it, Tig." Another name that Pads calls Will that I forgot to mention. Her dad's patronus was a tiger, so, Pads calls her Tig. Did I also forget to mention that Uncle Rowan was a wizard and mum's twin? You can imagine that she was devastated when he died. Then Maria, who was a Spanish wizard who went to Hogwarts, was one of mum's best friends. She was from a pureblood family and was put into Ravenclaw. However, luckily, her family aren't prejudice in anyway, so, YAY for us! So, basically, they fell in love and got married then had Will. Maria was actually 8 months pregnant when she was killed in the accident. Will's brother died a couple of weeks later because of complications after an emergency caesaran. Sorry, rambling.

"I need to talk to Harry quickly, be right back." I walk back upstairs and bump into Harry. I grab his hand and drag him to my room. I silence him as he protests. "We need to look in the library before we leave! I mean, we can look in Abuela's library as well but we have to search ours completely!"

"Search when everyone goes to bed? We'll be under the invisibility cloak." Harry replies.

"What if one of the adults is up?"

"Then we are screwed." I smirk.

"I like your way of phrasing, twinny."

"Why thank you, twinny." Harry thanks. "We meet in your room at 11pm then we search the library." I nod.

"Agreed." I state before leaving the room and going to my own. It was 9pm when we got home earlier, so, we were meant to be asleep by now. I pack the things that I'll need at Abuela's villa and change into my pajamas before Dad walks into the room.

"On your mother's orders, it's time for bed, sweetheart." Dad repeats with a laugh.

"On our orders." I heard mum emphasis down the hall in a stern voice.

"Sorry, dear." Dad apologises with a not so sorry look. "On our orders, it's time for bed, sweetheart."

"Sure thing, dad." I reply and lower my voice. "Say if I wanted to cause mischief in the night…?"

"I wouldn't know a thing." Dad whispers back with a wink. "Do you need tucking in?"

"Sure." I say with a smile and climb on my bed. It was a pretty big bed to be honest and sometimes, hard to climb onto. I get under the duvet and Dad pulls the duvet over my face. "Dad!" He chuckles and removes the duvet from my face.

"Couldn't resist." He says with a smile and kisses my forehead. "Night, sweetheart."

"Night, dad." I mumble back as my mouth is muffed by the duvet that I snuggle into. After he leaves, Mum comes in and does the same thing. "Night, mum."

"Night, darling." She replies and turns off the light before shutting my door, quietly. I sit back up and look at my clock. _10:15?!_ I, sneakily, got my wand from my bedside table and a book. I can read until I get to work. I tiptoe across my room and grab a book before climbing into bed again.

"Lumos." I whisper and my wand shines, brightly. I quickly dive under the thick duvet as to block most the light. I start reading 'The Lord of the Rings'. It's one of Darren's that I never returned.

45 minutes later, I hear the door open. "Nox." I whisper and dive under my duvet, incase it isn't Harry.

"Steph." Harry whispers and I throw the duvet off me.

"It is you." I whisper back in relieve and climb out of bed. I put my duvet back in place before returning the book to the bookcase. "Shall we?" Harry opens up the cloak and I step inside. "Lumos." My wand lights up once again. "Let's go."

"When did we learn that?" Harry asks in a whisper as we walk down the corridor.

"We haven't yet. We're supposed to learn it in January." I answer in a whisper. "I've been learning spells ahead of everyone because I got bored as did Hermione."

"You two really should have been placed in Ravenclaw." Harry comments under his breath.

"We almost were but Gryffindor won out." I whisper with a cheeky smile as we head up the stairs. We almost make it to the library door when Athena starts to hiss. I open the cloak a little, so, she could see my face. "Athena, it's just me." She stops hissing and I pick her up.

"Really?" Harry questions.

"She would of just clawed at the door and it would of looked suspicious." I rationalise and Harry makes a face of agreement. We go into the expansive library and close the door. I set Athena down and she makes herself at home on the chair. "The forbidden books are on the top floor over there but they're in lock and chain but I smuggled the key from mum's bedside draw earlier."

"She's going to kill us." Harry whispers in dismay.

"I'll take the fall for that one, dear brother." I whisper back as I climb the stairs with him following. "My logic is, if Nicholas Flammel can't be found in any unrestricted section at Hogwarts then it's highly unlikely that we would find something in the non-forbidden section here." We reach the bookcase where the forbidden books were and I unlock the chains surrounding them. I pull one book out and open it.

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

 _Fudge!_ I slam the book shut and put the book back before relocking the chains as the sound of footsteps come running towards the library because of the noise. Harry throws the cloak over us and we start to, quietly, manoeuvre ourselves down to the bottom floor. Just as we reach the last step, the door comes flying open, wands at the ready from all adults. We move out the way as they make their way up the stairs. As they do this, we sneak out of the library through the open door and fast walk down the stairs. The loud noise had stopped but there was a loud discussion coming from upstairs which I did not want to listen to, particularly. "Wait, the key. It needs to be dropped off in mum's bedside table. We need to hurry." We get to our parent's bedroom door at the end of the hall which, again, was convinently open. I open the last draw of her bedside and slot the key back into place before we tiptoe out the room. "I think I'm going to bunk with you tonight. That man scared the shit out of me." Harry nods in agreement and we go into his room and shut the door quietly. We throw the cloak under the bed and climb into Harry's bed. "I never want to do that again. Not if the books do that."

"Agreed." Harry replies and wraps an arm around me. "We'll be okay. A book can't hurt us. However, we still have no clue who Nicholas Flammel is."

"Maybe Abuela will have something?" I put the question into the air.

"Maybe." Harry answers. "Although, her library is a little smaller than us but it's worth a shot." I heard the sound of the adults coming downstairs and close my eyes, and pretend to be asleep while try and get some sleep. I hear the door to Harry's bedroom open.

"You see?" I hear Dad say. "Stef is just sleeping in Harry's bed. That's why she's not in her room."

"You don't think the nightmares have started again, do you?" Mum asks in concern.

"We'll see if it's a one off." Dad replies. "If it isn't, we'll talk to her about it."

"Okay." Mum whispers back and I hear the door shut. _All that's giving me nightmares is that book. Why would mum and dad even have books like that?_ These were some of the questions on my mind as I feel asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Christmas Holidays flew pass in no time as did the winter itself. We were all seated in the library doing our homework when Hermione thumps a huge book on the table which causes Harry to jump. "I had you looking in the wrong section! How could I be so stupid? I checked this out a few weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"This is light?" Ron questions and Hermione glares.

"Of course!" She retorts. "Here it is! "Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"

"The what?" Ron and Harry ask at the same time.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" Hermione replies. "" The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.""

"Immortal?" Ron questions in surprise.

"It means you'll never die." I explain.

"I know what it means!" Ron exclaims.

"Shh!" Harry whispers.

"" The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday!"" Hermione reads off the last paragraph. "That's what Fluffy's guarding on the 3rd floor. That's what's under the trapdoor…the Philosopher's Stone!" We exchange glances.

"I think we need to talk to Hagrid." I suggest. "Sneak down to Hagrid's hut after curfew?"

"Exactly." Hermione agrees and I help her put the book back.

At 10pm, Hermione, Ron, Harry and I make our way to Hagrid's hut without getting spotted. Luckily. I knock on the door and it opens. "Hagrid!" He was wearing an apron and oven mitts.

"Oh hello." He greets. "Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today." He starts to close the door.

"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!" We all exclaim and he opens the door again.

"Oh." Hagrid replies, solemnly. "You might want to come in then." We all pile into the hut.

"We think Snape's trying to steal it." Harry explains.

"Snape?" Hagrid questions in disbelief. "Blimey, Harry, you're not still on about him, are you?"

"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone. We just don't know why." Harry answers.

"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone!" Hagrid exclaims. "He's not about to steal it!"

"What?" Harry asks in surprise.

"You heard." Hagrid replies. "Right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today." He tries to herd us out.

"Wait a minute." Ron states. "One of the teachers?"

"Of course!" Hermione comments. "There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments."

"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me." Hagrid comments. "Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that." Hagrid's cauldron begins to rattle. "Oh!" Hagrid hurries over and grabs what looks like an egg. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" Hagrid put the egg thing on the table and we gather around it.

"Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?" Harry asks.

"That? It's a…it's um…" Hagrid stutters.

"I know what that is!" Ron exclaims. "But Hagrid, how did you get one?"

"I won it." Hagrid explains. "Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact." The egg rattles and pieces of egg fly everywhere as a small dragon emerges. It squeaks and slips on an egg piece.

"Is that…a dragon?" Hermione asks in disbelief.

"That's not just a dragon." Ron says in awe. "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid comments. "Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert." The dragon squeaks again.

"Norbert?" I question.

"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?" Hagrid answers and I giggle. "Don't you, Norbert?" He strokes Norbert's chin. "Dededede." Nobert backs again and blows a fireball into Hagrid's beard. "Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well…he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course." Norbert hiccups again. "Who's that?"

"Malfoy." I answer as I get a glimpse of his face before he runs off.

"Oh, dear." Hagrid curses. "You four better be heading off now before you're caught." We bolt out the house and through the corridors in the dark.

"Hagrid always wanted a dragon." Harry states. "He told me so when I was 8."

"It's crazy." Ron comments. "And worse, Malfoy knows."

"I don't understand. Is that bad?" Hermione asks.

"It's bad." Ron answers and we stop as Professor McGonagall appears in her nightgown.

"Good evening." She greets as Malfoy was smug behind her. "All of you in my classroom now." We follow her and walk into the room, and stand in front of her desk. "Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken."

"50?!" Harry exclaims.

"Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention." I see Malfoy's smug smile vanish.

"Excuse me, Professor." Draco starts. "Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said…" the five of us.""

"No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonagall insists. "You see, as honourable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates." We all grin as Draco sags. "Now, you will be informed of your detention tomorrow. All of you get to bed immediately. Here's a pass for getting to the common room." She has us individually a pass and we leave immediately. I glare at Malfoy who sneers back before going our separate ways. Hermione, Ron, Harry and I make our way up the moving stairs to Gryffindor common room.

"Hello, wake up." I say to the Fat Lady who startles awake. "Pig Snout."

"And what are you four doing up so late?" She asks, angrily.

"Mind your own beeswax." She gasps in offense. "Pig Snout." She glares at me and, angrily, opens the door. I walk into the common room which was empty aside from Fred, George and Willow.

"Did you have to be rude to the Fat Lady?" Hermione asks. "She holds grudges."

"Probably not." I answer with a shrug. "I'm just annoyed at Malfoy."

"Hey, what are you four up too?" Will asks in greeting.

"Got caught by McGonagall." Ron answers. "We lost house points and receive detention."

"How many points did you lose?" Fred asks.

"50 each." Harry replies and they all groan. "We didn't mean too. Malfoy told Professor McGonagall."

"That little Slytherin bastard." George curses.

"Tell me about it." I mumble under my breath. "Well, we're going to go to bed, anyway. See you all in the morning." We say our goodnights and go up our respective staircases. Everyone was asleep, so, Hermione and I quickly change into our pyjamas and climb into bed.

"What do you think the detention will be?" Hermione asks, quietly.

"Probably lines or something." I answer. "They can't do anything to bad. We're 1st years." With that, Hermione and I, eventually, fall asleep.

A few days had gone by and it was finally our detention. We couldn't do it on a week day, apparently, so, we are doing it on a Saturday night. In that time, we had also managed to smuggle Norbert out of Hogwarts by using Ron's brother, Charlie. We were being led to Hagrid's hut at night by Mr. Filch. "A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming." I exchange a wide-eyed look with Harry. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest." Hagrid appears from his hut with a crossbow. He also seemed to be a little teary eyed. "A sorry lot this, Hagrid. Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?" Of course, Filch knew about the bloody Dragon despite our efforts to keep it secret.

"Norbert's gone for good." Hagrid sniffles.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" I ask, sympathetically. "He'll be in Charlie's Romanian colony now."

"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania?" Hagrid asks and I see Filch roll his eyes. "What if the other dragons are mean to him. He's only a baby, after all."

"Oh, for God's sake, pull yourself together, man." Filch demands. "You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you."

"The forest?" Dracon question. "I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are…" Draco is cut off by a howl. "werewolves!"

"It's not a full moon, dumbass." I mutter and Draco glares at me.

"There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad." Filch states. "You can be sure of that." Draco looks frightened. "Nighty-night." Filch, at that point, leaves.

"Right. Let's go." Hagrid commands. Hagrid leads us through the forest and we stop at a puddle that was silver. He rubs the substance on his fingers together.

"Hagrid, what's that?" Harry asks.

"What we're here for." Hagrid answers. "See that? That's unicorn blood, that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something. So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me."

"Okay." Ron mumbles.

"And Harry and Stefani, you'll go with Malfoy." Draco and I grimace as Harry nods.

"Okay. Then I get Fang!" Draco negotiates.

"Fine." Hagrid agrees. "Just so you know, he's a bloody coward." Fang whines and I roll my eyes. Hagrid passes Malfoy the lamp and we part ways with Hermione, Ron and Hagrid.

"You wait till my father hears about this." Draco rants. "This is servant's stuff." He can't even be silent for once, can he?

"If I didn't know better, Draco. I'd say you were scared." I comment.

"Scared, Potter?!" Draco scoffs as another howl is heard. "Did you hear that? Come on, Fang. Scared." We walk further into the woods and a few minutes later, Fang stops and growls.

"What is it, Fang?" Harry asks and we all look ahead. A cloaked figure is crouched over a dead unicorn, drinking its blood. Harry starts to hiss in pain as he clutches his head. More specifically, his scar. The cloaked figure looks at us and I could see silver blood dripping from him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Draco screams and runs away with Fang. "HELP!" _Coward._ The cloaked figure rises and starts to slide towards us. Harry and I back up but I trip over a branch as does Harry. What a stupidly placed branch. Backed into a corner and nowhere else to run, we wait for the inevitable. Suddenly, there is a sound of hooves and a figure leaps over us. The cloak figure retreats and flies away as the figure, a centaur, rears. Harry and I get up, and the centaur turns to face us.

"Harry Potter, Stefani Potter, you must leave." The centaur states. "You are known to many creatures here. The forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you."

"But what was that thing you saved us from?" I question with a frown.

"A monstrous creature." The centaur answers. "It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death. But at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life."

"But who would choose such a life?" Harry asks.

"Can you think of no one?" The centaur retorts.

"Do you mean to say…that that thing that killed the unicorn…that was drinking its blood…that was Voldemort?" Harry replies.

"Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?" The centaur questions us.

"The Philosopher's Stone." I say in realisation. _Voldemort was going to use the stone to come back._ I hear the sound of a dog barking as people approach. Hagrid, Hermione, Ron, Draco and Fang appear.

"Stefani! Harry!" Hermione exclaims in relief.

"Hello there, Firenze." Hagrid greets. _Oh, that's the centaur's name. Firenze._ "I see you've met our young Mr. and Miss. Potter. You all right there, you two?" We nod.

"Harry Potter, Stefani Potter, this is where I leave you." Firenze says to us. "You're safe now. Good luck." Firenze turns away and gallops off. We are all left in silence.

"We found the unicorn?" I comment, weakly.

"I can see that." Hagrid replies. "I think your detentions over now." We nod in agreement. Hagrid takes us back through the forest and up to the Hogwarts doors where Filch was waiting for us to take us back to our common rooms.

After arriving at our common room, we sit down around the fire as Harry and I explain our thoughts and what happened. "You mean, You-Know-Who's out there, right now, in the forest?"

"But he's weak." I state. "He's living off the unicorns."

"Don't you see?" Harry asks to the silence as he stands up. "We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself, he wants the stone for Voldemort." _A big leap, Harry._ "With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll-He'll come back." Harry sits back down.

"But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to kill you, do you?" Ron questions.

"I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill us tonight." Harry answers.

"And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final!" Ron exclaims.

"Hang on a minute." Hermione says with a frown. "We're forgetting one thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?" The boys shrug and I roll my eyes.

"Dumbledore!" I explain. "As long as Dumbledore's around, you're safe. As long as Dumbledore's around, you can't be touched." Harry gives me a hint of a smile.

A couple of months later, Hermione, Harry, Ron and I were walking out of final exams. "I've always heard Hogwarts' end of the year exams were frightful, but I found that rather enjoyable."

"They were quite easy." I agree. "But I don't find exams enjoyable."

"Speak for yourself." Ron mumbles. "All right there, Harry?"

"My scar." Harry answers. "It keeps burning."

"It's happened before." I point out.

"Not like this." Harry replies.

"Perhaps you should see the nurse." Ron comments in concern.

"I think it's a warning." Harry states. "It means dangers coming. Uhh!" He rubs his scar and looks across the field. "Oh. Of course!"

"What is it?" Hermione asks as we start to stride towards Hagrid's hut.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger shows up and just happens to have one? I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets? Why didn't I see it before?" We break into a run to get to Hagrid's. "Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg?" Hagrid stops playing. "What did he look like?"

"I don't know." Hagrid answers. "I never saw his face. He kept his hood up."

"The stranger, though, you and he must have talked." I persist.

"Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after." Hagrid replies. "I told him. I said, "After Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem."

"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asks.

"Well, of course he was interested in Fluffy!" Hagrid answers. "How often do you come across a three-headed dog, even if you're in the trade? But I told him. I said, "The trick with any beast is to know how to calm him." Take fluffy, for example, just play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep." We are exchange looks with each other. "I shouldn't have told you that." We take off towards the castle. "Where you going?! Wait!" We don't stop for Hagrid and we burst into McGonagall's classroom. We run to the desk where McGonagall was sitting.

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately!" Harry exclaims.

"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here." McGonagall replies. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London."

"He gone?! Now?" I protest. "But this is important! It's about…the Philosopher's Stone."

"How do you know-" I cut off McGonagall's shocked question.

"Someone's going to try and steal it."

"I don't know how you three found out about the stone, but I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected." McGonagall states. "Now would you go back to your dormitories. Quietly." I let out a breath or disappointment and we turn around, and leave the classroom.

"That was no strange Hagrid met in the village. It was Snape, which means he knows how to get past Fluffy." Harry says, keeping his voice low.

"And with Dumbledore gone-" Hermione doesn't finish her sentence as Snape appears behind us.

"Good afternoon." Snape greets with a sneer. My god, is his hair even more greasy today? "Now, what would four young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?"

"Uh…we were just…" Hermione trails off, not thinking of a viable excuse.

"You want to be careful." Snape comments. "People will think you're-" Snape looks at Harry and frowns in shock. "Up to something." He strides away, his black cloak billowing behind him.

"Now what do we do?" Hermione questions.

"We go down the trapdoor. Tonight." I state and with that said, we make our way back to Gryffindor common room. _Hopefully, we can protect the stone from Voldemort._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hermione and I climb out of bed when everyone was asleep, and sneak down the stairs to meet Harry and Hermione on the bridge that has the girl's dormitories at one end and the boy's dormitories at the other. We all nod at each other and make our way into the common but stop when we hear croaking. "Trevor."

"Trevor shh!" Ron whispers. "Go, you shouldn't be here!"

"Neither should you." Neville replies as he appears from behind a chair. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?"

"Now, Neville, listen." Harry starts. "We were-"

"No!" He cuts Harry off. "I won't let you!" He stands up. "You'll get Gryffindor in trouble again! I-I'll fight you." He holds out his fist and I roll my eyes.

"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this…" I trail off and I take out my wand. "Petrificus Totalus." Neville freezes and falls backward onto the ground. I put my wand back in my pocket.

"You're a little scary sometimes…you know that?" Ron comments. "Brilliant, but scary." I roll my eyes.

"Let's go." Harry states and walks by Neville. "Sorry." I follow Harry.

"Sorry." I mumble, feeling guilty for put a spell on my friend. We make our way into the corridor and put the cloak over ourselves before making our way to the 3rd floor. We sneak through the 3rd floor corridor to Fluffy's door.

"Ow!" Hermione exclaims with a low voice. "You stood on my foot!"

"Sorry." Ron apologises as Hermione draws her wand, and points it at the door.

"Alohomora." She casts and the door opens. We go in and stand silently.

"Wait a minute…he's…" Ron trails off as the cloak is blown off us. "Sleeping."

"Snape's already been here." Harry says with a frown. "He's put a spell on the harp." We approach the sleeping dog and I scrunch my nose up at Fluffy's breath.

"Uh. It's got horrible breath!" Ron whispers.

"We have to move its paw." I command.

"What?!" Ron questions.

"Come on!" I demand and we grab the big paw, and push it off the trap door. "Okay. Push!" We move the paw just enough to open the trap door. "I'll go first. Don't follow until I give you a sign." I nod as I consider the darkness bellow. "If something bad happens, get yourselves out…Does it seem a bit…quiet?" _It does._

"The harp." Hermione comments. "It stopped playing." I see drool come down on Ron's shoulder.

"Ew." Ron says with disgust. "Yuck! Ugh." We all look up and see a very awake and very angry Fluffy.

"Jump! Go!" I exclaim and Harry jumps through the door. Then me, I land on something soft that looked like vines. _Is this what I think it is? Devil's Snare?_ Hermione falls next to me and Ron falls a few feet away.

"Whoa. Lucky this plant-thing is here, really." Ron says to no one.

"Whoa!" Harry exclaims as the plant begins to move. "Oh. Ahh!" The plants begin to tie us up but Harry and Ron don't stop squirming. I exchange a glance with Hermione.

"Stop moving, both of you." Hermione commands, softly. "This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax." I find myself going through to the other side of the vines as Hermione talks. "If you don't, it will only kill you faster."

"Kill us faster? Oh, now I can relax!" Ron exclaims as Harry yells, "Stefani!" Hermione lands beside me.

"Hermione!" Ron shouts. "Now what are we gonna do?!"

"Just relax!" I exclaim.

"Stefani! Where are you?" Harry asks.

"Do what I say." I answer. "Trust me." A few moments later, Harry falls beside me and onto his back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Harry mumbles as he gets up.

"Help!" Ron yells.

"He's not relaxing, is he?" Hermione comments.

"Apparently not." Harry replies.

"Help! Help me!" He continues to yell and I roll my eyes. Why can't he trust us?

"We've got to do something!" Hermione exclaims.

"What?" Harry asks.

"Hermione, do you remember what he read in Biology about Herbology?" I question. "There was a rhyme about Devil's Snare. I can't think of it off the top of my head."

"Um…" She trails off. "Devil's Snare, Devil's Scare, it's deadly fun…but will sulk in the sun."

"Of course, Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" I finish as Hermione gets out her wand before pointing it upwards.

"Lumus Solem!" Hermione casts and the Devil's Snare shrieks as Ron falls below.

"Ron, are you okay?" Harry asks as Ron lands.

"Yeah." Ron answers.

"Okay." Harry sighs in relief.

"Whew. Lucky, we didn't panic!" He proclaims as he stands.

"Lucky Stefani and Hermione pay attention in Herbology." Harry retorts with a look and I give the same look along with Hermione. I hear a noise that sounds like birds flapping.

"What is that?" Hermione asks.

"I don't know." I answer. "Sounds like wings." We enter the next room and there were keys with wings flying around.

"Curious." Hermione sounds. "I've never seen birds like these."

"They're not birds, they're keys." Harry explains. "And I'll bet one of them fits that door." We approach a broomstick that was suspended in the air.

"What's this all about?" Hermione questions.

"I don't know." I reply. "Strange." Ron walks over to the door and takes out his wand.

"Alohomora!" He exclaims and shrugs. "Well, it was worth a try."

"Ugh! What're we going to do? There must be 1000 keys up there!" Hermione exclaims.

"We're looking for a big old fashioned one." Ron suggests. "Probably rusty like the handle."

"There! I see it!" I exclaim as I spot it. "The one with the broken wing!" I point and look at the broom before frowning.

"What's wrong, Stephani?" Hermione asks.

"It's too simple." I murmur. "Harry, you fly." Harry frowns back at me before looking at the broom.

"Oh, go on, Harry!" Ron says. "If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest seeker in a century!" Harry nods and grabs the broom. All the keys suddenly go one direction, right at Harry. He climbs on, swiping at them. "This complicates things a bit!" Harry pushes off into the air. He flies off, after the old key. The keys follow him. After flying around, Harry grabs the old key.

"Catch the key!" Harry exclaims. He zooms by me and throws the key which I catch before putting it in the lock.

"Hurry up!" Ron yells. I get the door unlocked and open it before rushing through with Hermione and Ron, followed by Harry on the broom. I slam the door shut and hear a thud as the keys slam into it. "You alright, Harry?"

"Yeah, fine." Harry answers. "Let's go." We enter a dark room, with broken pieces all around it.

"I don't like this." Hermione comments, grimly. "I don't like this at all."

"Where are we?" Harry asks. "A graveyard?"

"This is no graveyard." Ron answers with a sigh. "It's a chessboard." We walk out onto the marble board and flames light, illuminating the board and GIANT players.

"There's the door." Harry states and we walk across the board, towards the door. Suddenly, as we reach a line of pawns, the pawns bring up their swords; making us jump back.

"Now what do we do?" Hermione questions.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron questions. "We've got to play our way across the room. All right. Harry, you take the Bishop's square. Hermione and Stefani, you'll be the Queen's side castle. As for me, I'll be a knight." We all take our places.

"What happens now?" Hermione asks.

"Well, white moves first, and then...we play." Ron explains. A pawn on the other side moves forward.

"Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like...real wizard's chess, do you?" Hermione questions.

"You there! D-5!" Ron commands and a black pawn moves forward, diagonal to the white pawn. The white pawn raises its swords and smashes the black one. I flinch. "Yes, Hermione, I think this is going to be exactly like wizard's chess!" We all exchange looks of worry. I wince on every smash and boom that happens.

"Wait a minute." Harry murmurs with a frown.

"You understand right, Harry." Ron starts. "Once I make my move, the Queen will take me...then you'll be free to check the King.

"No, Ron! No!" Harry shouts in desperation.

"What is it?" I ask.

"He's going to sacrifice himself!" Harry exclaims.

"No, Ron, you can't!" Hermione yells at him. "There must be another way!"

"Do you want to stop Snape or not?" Ron retorts to Hermione. "Harry, Stephani, it's you that has to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, you two." Harry and I nod. "Knight...to H-3." Ron's horse moves forward then slides to the left before stopping. "Check." The Queen turns and advances, and stops before Ron. She takes her weapon and impales it into the horse. Ron goes flying off the horse, screaming, and lands on the floor, unconscious.

"RON!" Harry yells out and I grab Hermione to stop her from moving. "NO! Don't move! Don't forget, we're still playing." Harry walks the diagonal in front of the King. "Checkmate." The King's sword falls onto the ground. After the sword falls onto the ground, we run to run. "Take care of Ron. Then, go to the owlery. Send a message to Dumbledore. Ron's right...We have to go on.

"You'll be okay, Harry, Stephani." Hermione says to us. "You both are a great wizard and witch, you two really are."

"Not as good as you." Harry and I compliment at the same time, and Hermione smiles.

Me? Books and cleverness?" Hermione questions. "There are more important things. Friendship, and bravery. And Stefani, Harry, just be careful." We nod and we stand up before moving onto the next room. A disgusting smell fills my nostrils as we walk into the next room. On the floor in front of Harry and I, a troll was tackled and out cold.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as we stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe." He pulled open the next door and there was a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line in the room. "Snape's. What do we have to do?" We stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind us in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. We were trapped.

"Look!" I picked up a roll of paper lying next to the bottles and examined it. Harry was looking over my shoulder to read it:

 _Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

 _Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,_

 _One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

 _Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

 _Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

 _Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line._

 _Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_

 _To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

 _First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

 _You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

 _Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

 _But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;_

 _Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

 _Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

 _Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

 _Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

Hermione let out a great sigh and Harry, amazed, saw that she was

smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing.

"Brilliant," I murmur. "This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so, will we, won't we?" Harry asks.

"Of course not," I say. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."

"But how do we know which to drink?" Harry questions

"Give me a minute." I mumble in concentration. I read the paper several times before starting. Since the giant bottle is not poison and it is a twin to the second from the left, we know these two are nettle wine (2nd and 6th). Therefore, two of the poisons are to the left of these (1st and 5th). The ones at each end are different and since we know the left end is poison, both nettle wines have been found, and it will not help you move onwards, the rightmost bottle sends you back (7th). This leaves 2 bottles and we know the dwarf is not poison, so it must be the one to move ahead (3rd). Finally, the remaining bottle must be the third poison (4th). "Got it. The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire - toward the Stone." Harry looked at the tiny bottle.

"There's only enough there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow." We looked at each other. "Which one will get you back through the purple flames?" I point at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"You drink that," said Harry. "No, listen, get back, and go and help Hermione with Ron."

"But Harry - what if You-Know-Who's with him?" I ask.

"Well - I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again." My lips trembled, and I dashed at Harry and threw my arms around him. "Stephani!" Harry exclaims.

"Harry - you're a great wizard, you know." I mumble

"I'm not as good as you," Harry retorts, very embarrassed, as she let go of him. "You drink first. You are sure which is which, aren't you?"

"Positive," I say. I took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered. It was so cold.

"It's not poison?" Harry asks anxiously.

"No - but it's like ice." I answer.

"Quick, go, before it wears off." Harry commands.

"Good luck - take care." I reply.

"GO!" Harry exclaims. I turn and walk straight through the purple fire. _The potion worked. I knew I was right_. I continue backwards to where Hermione and Ron was. _Hopefully, Harry can do it. I believe in him, at least._


End file.
